Philippines

A brutal election-related massacre in the Philippine province of Maguindanao on Monday appears to be single deadliest event for the press since 1992, when the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began keeping detailed records on journalist deaths. The New York Times and the Associated Press (AP) reported Wednesday that at least 18 of the victims have been preliminarily identified...

Several journalists covering relatives and supporters of a local politician who was about to file his gubernatorial candidacy on the Philippines island of Mindanao Monday were believed to be among those killed by a gang of armed men in Maguindanao province, according to international news reports. News reports said 21 people were killed after being abducted, including journalists, lawyers, and...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has welcomed a Supreme Court ruling in the Philippines granting a change of trial venue in the case against two suspects charged with ordering the March 2005 murder of investigative reporter Marlene Garcia-Esperat. The Supreme Court handed down the ruling on August 26 and Manila-based press freedom group Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)...

Another radio journalist has been killed in the Mindanao island of the Philippines. Two unidentified men Monday shot Godofredo Linao in the back near the offices of Radyo Natin, where he worked as a commentator, in Surigao del Sol province on southern Mindanao Island, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Radyo Natin's manager and owner, Mario Alviso said Linao had been summoned...

A Filipino radio presenter, Jonathan Petalvero, was recently shot dead at a restaurant in Bayugan, in the southern province of Agusan del Sur, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Petalvero hosted a programme that supported a local politician. “It is too soon to say whether this murder was linked to the victim’s work as a journalist, but the authorities must quickly assign enough...

The police in Mindoro Occidental province should immediately investigate the shooting murder of Philippine radio commentator Crispin Perez for possible links to his reporting, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. An unidentified attacker stabbed and fatally shot Perez on Tuesday in San Jose in the central Philippines, according to local and international news reports. The...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has offered condolences to the family and colleagues of Philippine journalist Jojo Trajano, who was killed in crossfire on Wednesday during a police raid of an alleged organised crime den near Manila. A group suspected of drug dealing and theft opened fire on police during the raid at around 2.30 a.m. this morning in Taytay Town, Rizal Province, fatally...

The Philippines government must address a series of shootings that have targeted journalists on the southern island of Mindanao, the latest coming on Wednesday when gunmen critically wounded a local radio broadcaster, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. One of two men riding a motorcycle fired once at Harrison Manalac at about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to local news...

Local police arrested one of the alleged gunmen in the 2005 killing of journalist Philip Agustin on May 13 in Pampanga, a province approximately 81 km from Manila, according to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR). The Philippine National Police in Central Luzon arrested Nilo "Boy" Morete in Poblacion village, Mabalacat town, Pampanga at around 3:30 p.m. (local time) on May 13...

A freelance Filipino journalist, Carlos Conde, has alleged that that his name appeared on a 2007 official Armed Forces "order of battle" document, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Conde said he is concerned that the official document amounts to a "hitlist" that contains more than a hundred names, mostly and members of anti-government groups. The names, Conde said, are...