Another journalist was killed, three more received threats for exposing corruption By RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat.com

Another journalist was killed, three more received threats for exposing corruption
 
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Another radio broadcaster was shot dead, the fourth journalist killed under the new administration.

According to a report by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), Romeo Olea, 49, was riding a motorcycle on his way to the radio dwEB office in Nabua, Camarines Sur when he was shot at around 5:52 a.m. along the national highway.

Olea was immediately brought to the Riconda Medical Center. He was dead when he reached the hospital.
According to the local police, two 9 mm. shells were found at the crime scene. Police have yet to determine if the killing is work-related.

The CMFR said that if the murder is work-related, Olea’s killing would be the fourth case of a journalist/media worker killed in the line of duty under the administration of Benigno Aquino III, and the third in 2011. He would also be the sixth journalist from the Bicol Region killed in the line of duty since 1986, and the second from Camarines Sur province.

Threats against journalists continue
 
Meanwhile, in just one week, three other journalists who exposed alleged corrupt practices were harassed by local authorities.

In Kalinga, Governor Jocel Baac barged into the radio booth of Kalinga broadcaster Jerome Tabanganay, June 7 and struck the latter in the mouth with a microphone.

According to accounts by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), Tabanganay was about to end his program “Agenda” on dzRK Radyo ng Bayan-Kalinga when Baac arrived with his men brandishing Armalite rifles. Baac threatened the broadcaster, saying: “Go on. Keep talking. I will kill you.”

The brazen assault on Tabanganay “shows the extent to which impunity has thrived in this benighted land of ours,” the NUJP said in a statement.

On May 19 last year, Tabanganay survived an assassination attempt after he began criticizing the resurgence of “jueteng,” an illegal numbers game in the province.

“This incident shows the extent to which this system of governance has allowed petty tyrants and the enemies of truth to use everything at their disposal to silence those with whom they disagree with impunity,” the NUJP said..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/06/14/killings-threats-against-journalists-escalating/