Philippines

Murder charges have been filed in the 2005 slaying of investigative reporter Marlene Garcia-Esperat in the Philippines, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Osmeña Montañer and Estrella Sabay were charged Monday as the alleged masterminds behind the murder. Montañer and Sabay were Mindano Department of Agriculture officials who Garcia-Esperat had accused of siphoning off money...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for more police to investigate the killings of five journalists in the Philippines since the beginning of 2008, including the latest victim, former radio presenter Rolando Anjo Julia, in the central province of Camarines Sur. "Until the motives for these crimes have been discovered and their authors punished, people will continue to doubt the ability of...

Filipino radio commentator Dennis Cuesta, who was shot at near his office on August 4, succumbed to his injuries at a General Santos City hospital on Saturday, New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Local press freedom groups told CPJ that they believe his murder was related to his work. Cuesta's colleague Mel Coronel told the Associated Press that the journalist never...

Filipino radio broadcaster Martin Roxas was shot dead on August 7 by a gunman riding pillion on a motorcycle in Roxas City, according to the Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR). The province is approximately 411 km southeast of Manila. Roxas, programme director of dyKR-Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) in Roxas City, was shot in the neck. Roxas was himself on a motorcycle. He was...

In what could be a setback to the campaign for legal protection of journalists under threat, the Manila Court of Appeals denied on June 27 a petition for a writ of amparo filed by an Oriental Mindoro-based journalist, according to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR). Oriental Mindoro is a province approximately 140 km south of Manila. In a 21-page decision penned by Associate...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the Philippine government to fully investigate the shooting death of Robert "Bert" Sison Tuesday in Sariaya town, about 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Manila. Sison reported for the weekly Regional Bulletin, which has published articles on crime and stories critical of local officials. Sison, 60, was shot in his car by two unidentified gunmen...

Al-Qaida-linked militants freed a popular TV news anchor, and her two assistants late Tuesday, more than a week after snatching them in the volatile southern Philippines island of Jolo. The abductors, identified by police as Abu Sayyaf militants, released ABS-CBN anchor Ces Drilon and the two other captives on Jolo island around 11 p.m. following talks with negotiators, said Director Avelino Razon...

Militants who abducted Philippine Television journalist Ces Drilon has set a deadline of Tuesday noon for a ransom of 15 million pesos (337,079 U.S. dollars), local media reported Monday. According to a Xinhua report, the government negotiator for the hostage's release, Alvarez Isnaji, a local town mayor, said Drilon called him around 8:30 a.m. Monday to relay the abductors' message and pleaded...

One of the Philippines' top TV reporters and her two assistants have been abducted, the ABS-CBN network said on Wednesday, after the team went missing on an island that is a hotbed of Islamic radicals linked to Al-Qaeda. The country's largest television network said that Ces Drilon, cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion, and assistant cameraman Angelo Valderama had been abducted for ransom on Jolo island...

The publisher of a daily newspaper critical of the Arroyo government has been found guilty of libel and sentenced to a minimum of six months to a maximum of two years in prison. She was also ordered to pay P5 million (US$113,480) in moral damages and P33,732.25 (US$765) in civil damages, the Manila-based Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) has reported. Makati Regional Trial Court...