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The Cebu Court of Appeals issued last May 14 a writ of preliminary injunction prohibiting the Cebu City Regional Trial Court (RTC) from proceeding with the case against the suspected masterminds in the 2005 murder of journalist Marlene Esperat.
In a five-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Francisco Acosta and co-signed by Associate Justices Amy Lazaro-Javier and Florito Macalino, the Cebu Court of Appeals granted the May 7, 2008 petition for a writ of preliminary injunction filed by Osmeña Montañer and Estrella Sabay, both accused of ordering the killing of Esperat, preventing Cebu City RTC Branch 7 Judge Simeon Dumdum Jr. from hearing the case for an indefinite period. It also stopped the Feb. 4, 2008 warrants of arrest against Montañer and Sabay from being served.
Esperat, known as “Madame Witness,” was killed on March 24, 2005 in full view of her children. She had exposed numerous cases of graft and corruption in the Department of Agriculture Region 12 office, where Montañer and Sabay serve as finance officer and regional accountant, respectively.
Based on the arguments during the March 24, 2008 hearing on the petition for certiorari and the April 3, 2008 manifestation of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), which sided with the accused, the Court of Appeals was “convinced that justice would be better served if the status quo is preserved until the final determination of the merits of the case.”
The OSG serves as the law office of the Philippine government.
The Cebu Court of Appeals granted last March 25 the prayer for a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) by Montañer and Sabay.
The Appellate Court said the Cebu RTC has no jurisdiction over the murder case filed against the two accused since it happened in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat. It cited the OSG’s comment filed last April 3 that the Supreme Court Nov. 23, 2005 order transferring the venue of Criminal Case No. 2568 from Tacurong RTC to Cebu City RTC does not apply to the present case against Montañer and Sabay.
“Criminal Case No. 2568 against petitioners as accused in [Criminal] Case No. CBU-82237…had already become final and can no longer be disturbed by the courts. The filing therefore of the Information against petitioners cannot be said to be a continuation of Criminal Case No. 2568,” the OSG explains.
Criminal Case No. 2568 pertains to the case against Randy Grecia, Gerry Cabayag, and Estanislao Bismanos. The three were convicted and sentenced to reclusion perpetua by Cebu City RTC Judge Eric Menchavez on Oct. 6, 2006 through the help of the testimony of suspect-turned-state witness Rowie Barua. Criminal Case No. CBU-82237 meanwhile refers to the ongoing case against Sabay and Montañer.
When the Supreme Court issued the resolution granting the transfer of venue, Tacurong City RTC Judge Francis Palmones had already dismissed the case against Montañer and Sabay. Palmones dismissed the case even before the prosecution’s presentation of evidence.
The OSG suggested that it would only be possible to hear the case in Cebu if the prosecution withdraws the charges filed before the Cebu RTC, files it before the Tacurong RTC, and asks the Supreme Court to again transfer the venue of the case from Tacurong to Cebu.
The Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ) filed on July 4, 2005 the petition to transfer the case to Cebu in response to security concerns of the witnesses and considering the clout of the accused which could unduly influence the case if heard in Tacurong. FFFJ is a coalition of six media organizations working to promote and protect press freedom. The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility is a founding member of FFFJ and serves as its secretariat.
The prosecution has 20 days to reply. Montañer and Sabay, on the other hand, were asked to pay P50,000 each as injunction bond.
Nena Santos, private counsel for the prosecution, said she only received the copy of Montañer and Sabay’s May 7 petition for a writ of preliminary injunction the same day that the Court of Appeals granted the petition.
“There has not even been a hearing yet a decision has already been reached,” Santos said.
State prosecutor Llena Ipong-Avila said that the prosecution will file a motion to overturn the Court of Appeals injunction within the 20-day deadline, and would bring the case to the Supreme Court if the Cebu Court of Appeals dismisses it.
Seventy-one journalists have been killed in the line of duty since 1986. Not one mastermind has been successfully prosecuted, while only two out of the 34 cases since 2001 have convictions. The Damalerio case, with one conviction for the gunman, and the Esperat case, with three convictions for the gunmen, are the only cases since 2001 in which the killers have been convicted.
The trial of the suspect in the killing of a radio journalist in 2001 began last May 9 in Cebu City, Cebu with the journalist’s widow stating under direct examination by the prosecution that her husband had received death threats in relation to his job as a journalist before he was killed.
“He told me prior to his death that he was nervous because of the death threats he had received (in relation to his media work),” said Emely Ureta, wife of Rolando Ureta who was slain on Jan. 3, 2001 in Kalibo, Aklan. The trial of suspect Amador Raz is ongoing at the sala of Cebu Regional Trial Court Judge Sylvia Paderanga. Senior State Prosecutor Peter Medalle conducted the direct examination, during which Emely stated that her husband was an outspoken critic of lawless violence in their town. Raz was present during the hearing. Co-accused Jessie Ticar died in a provincial hospital in Aklan on May 2, 2008. The prosecution has already moved for the removal of Ticar in the case.
The case was transferred, along with the case of slain radio journalist Herson Hinolan who was killed on Nov. 15, 2004 also in Aklan, to Cebu by the Supreme Court upon the petition of the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ), of which the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility is the secretariat, and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).
Both the FFFJ and the NUJP asked for the transfer of the cases to Cebu, citing the influence of the accused in Aklan. The Supreme Court granted the petition, filed on Feb. 8 2008, on March 18, 2008.
During the direct examination, Emely’s voice trembled and tears rolled down her cheeks as Medalle asked her if Rolando’s death still affects her even if seven years have already passed.
“It hurts. It hurts me so much remembering him,” Emely said.
Two celebrated cases of media killings have resulted in convictions after being tried in Cebu. One is the May 13, 2002 killing of print, radio, and television journalist Edgar Damalerio, which yielded a life sentence for gunman and former police officer Guillermo Wapile on Nov. 29 2005, while the other is the March 24, 2005 killing of print and radio journalist Marlene Esperat, in which accused Estanislao Bismanos, Gerry Cabayag and Randy Grecia—the gunman, lookout, and co-conspirator—were all sentenced to life imprisonment on Oct. 6, 2006.
The prosecution team believes that the case’s age, which is already seven years, will have no effect in the outcome of the case.
“Witnesses don’t forget what they have seen and if given the chance, they will reveal everything in court,” Senior State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva said.
There have been 71 journalists/media practitioners killed in the line of duty since 1986. Of the 34 cases since 2001, there have been only two convictions.
Two provincial correspondents of a national broadsheet said they were indirectly threatened with harm by a local government official in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao last May 10.
Reporter Maria Elena Catajan and photographer Redjie Cawis, both correspondents of the national broadsheet Malayasaid vice mayor Clarence Polig, did not utter any explicit threat. But they felt threatened because, while he kept saying while they were interviewing him that what they were doing was illegal and they were trespassing, his armed companions were cocking their guns.
Catajan and Cawis had gone to Alfonso Lista, Ifugao upon the recommendation of the Department of Tourism and local officials to cover a local fiesta.
A police blotter report said that Polig, who was described as “intoxicated,” started the “heated argument” with Catajan and Cawis at his house in Alfonso Lista between 6 and 9 p.m. last May 10.
“Polig deemed their coverage was illegal and accused them of trespassing. [Polig said the] media group has no ‘work order’…,” the blotter report said.
Polig, according to the blotter entry, told Catajan and her companions that “all dealings with the [Alfonso Lista] municipality had to pass through his approval.”
Catajan told the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) that Polig also shouted expletives at her and Cawis when they tried to explain that the town’s mayor had invited them to cover the event. Polig and his three companions were armed, Catajan said.
“At that point, they were alarmed to notice him (Polig) and his three companions bringing out their guns. They offered to leave the municipality but were stopped by Polig’s companions and an unidentified man wearing a (ski mask) and heavy sweater appeared,” the blotter entry said.
Catajan said she and Cawis rushed out of the vice mayor’s house and boarded their van, but that the unidentified man in the ski mask took a motorcycle and trailed their vehicle for some time.
Catajan and Cawis reported the incident to the police in the capital town of Lagawe on May 11.
Catajan told CMFR that she and Cawis now fear for their security and are considering filing a complaint. - with reports from Inquirer Northern Luzon Bureau
An individual onboard a motorcycle gunned down a newspaper publisher at around 10:15 p.m. last April 7 in Pasig City.
Benefredo Acabal, 34, the publisher and a columnist of the Cavite-based paper Pilipino Newsmen, was shot by a gunman onboard a motorcycle along Amang Rodriguez Avenue corner Greenpark Village, Mangga-han, Pasig City.
A certain Army Staff Sergeant Antonio Ramos Raynilo reportedly brought Acabal to the Rizal Medical Center for treatment. Acabal however was dead on arrival due to multiple gunshot wounds.
Raynilo did not give any statement.
“Reluctant magsalita iyong staff sergeant. Basta hinatid niya lang iyong biktima at ayaw magbigay ng address (The staff sergeant was reluctant to speak and refused to give his address. He just rushed the victim to the hospital),” Police Officer Lardy Ignacio told the online news site GMANews.TV.
Police later recovered five empty 9mm shells from the crime scene.
The marketing supervisor of Pilipino Newsmen, who refused identification, said the publication started only this year, and has had only four issues. He said prior to Acabal’s work for Pilipino Newsmen, the latter worked as a columnist for the national tabloid Bomba (Bomb) where he wrote political commentaries.
Police have not established the motive behind Acabal’s killing, said Major Henry Libay, a member of the secretariat of the Philippine National Police’s Task Force Usig. Libay also said that the police are reluctant to classify Acabal as a journalist since the latter’s wife did not identify the slain publisher as a journalist. Task Force Usig is tasked to investigate cases of extrajudicial and journalists’ killings.
The police, however, have not ruled out the possibility that the killing was related to Acabal’s work as a journalist.
The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility has listed 71 journalists and media practitioners killed in the line of duty since 1986. Thirty-four of these 71 were killed during the present administration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
A Palawan-based journalist was threatened with death last April 3 after he wrote that a mining company was blocking plans to declare a forest in Brooke’s Point, Palawan as a protected area.
Redempto Anda, a Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent and an editor for the local newspaper Palawan Star, received the threat through his mobile phone. The text message said that the person after him was protecting the interest of a certain “Kapitan” (Captain).
“Watch your back you have been tempting the gods! Don’t even think they will take it kindly that you are on a personal crusade against the KAPITAN,” the text message he received read.
Anda later received another message saying, “Be kind to an animal? Yes we will, through mercy killing! Good luck.”
The messages were sent through the mobile number 09267869353, which is now turned off.
Anda said in a phone interview that the threat came after his story on the plans of the mining company MacroAsia was published in the April 1, 2008 issue of the Inquirer.
Anda’s story said that MacroAsia, the flagship company of business tycoon Lucio Tan, was planning to launch a large-scale nickel mining project at Mt. Mantalingahan in Brooke’s Point, Palawan despite government plans of declaring it a protected area.
Anda quoted the Palawan NGO Network (PNNI) as saying that MacroAsia was “manipulating” some tribal leaders, who are members of and Brooke’s Point Federation of Tribal Councils, to stop the declaration of the mountain as a protected area.
Anda said the threat affected him in “a big way.” “Hindi muna ako susulat ng istorya sa mining (I won’t be writing stories on mining for the meantime),” he said.
After receiving the message, Anda immediately reported it to the local police as well as to the management of the Inquirer. The Inquirer, he said, has decided that he should “lie low for the meantime” on mining stories.
Anda also approached the MacroAsia management regarding the threat he received. But MacroAsia denied any involvement, according to him.
At least five journalists have been injured in Beirut while covering the fierce clashes between pro- and anti-government factions there, while several media outlets have been forced to shut down, say international press freedom organizations.
According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), four reporters and photographers for the daily opposition newspaper Sada al Balad were injured while covering the conflict last week.
One of the photographers, Wadi Shlink, was taking pictures of young men setting tires on fire in the Beshara al-Khoury area last May 7. “Suddenly, 20 of them attacked me. I ran looking for the security forces to protect me. Some soldiers tried to save me—in vain, because they were outnumbered by the rioters. They didn’t calm down until they had taken my camera,” Shlink told the free expression website Mena-ssat.com.
Menassat said army troopers did not intervene in the street fighting in the Beirut area of Corniche Mazraa, a traditional flashpoint of confrontation between Sunni and Shiite rioters, and instead went after journalists, forbidding them from taking pictures. Said Beyrouti, a reporter for Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television, was beaten in the head and had to be hospitalized, Menassat reported.
Other journalists have been detained by the police, had their equipment broken, or their homes ransacked. On May 12, two cameramen working for Al Jazeera were slightly injured when gunmen fired on their vehicle, said the London-based free expression monitor Article 19.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah supporters also forced the closure of pro-government satellite TV channels Future TV and Future News, the daily newspaper Al-Mustaqbal and Radio Orient on May 9, said the Paris-based press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The four media companies are all owned by the family of Saad Hariri, the head of the Future movement, the anti-Syrian majority party in the Lebanese parliament.
Rockets were fired early on May 9 at the headquarters of Al-Mustaqbal, starting a fire on one of its floors, RSF said. Soon afterwards, gunmen surrounded the offices of the radio and television stations, and threatened to fire if they did not stop broadcasting.
Future employees and other journalists have been holding a daily sit-in in front of the Future News building in Qantari to protest the closure.
The daily newspaper Liwaa has been unable to publish—its printing house is located in the midst of the conflict zone, The Maharat Foundation, a press freedom advocacy group in Lebanon, reports. And on May 10, the headquarters of the Armenian-speaking Radio Sevan was burned down in west Beirut, reported Article 19.
Maharat and others say the real problem is the politicization of the Lebanese media, which have become the mouthpieces of various political groups. The threats faced by reporters now are not the result of working in a war zone, but due to the “division of the Lebanese media between pro-government, opposition and independent media” said Maharat. It is calling on the media to “remain objective and not to enter the circle of violence.”
Clashes between the Hezbollah-led opposition and government supporters started on May 7 in several west Beirut neighborhoods on the back of a general strike demanding wage hikes amid rising prices. In one of the decisions that triggered the violence, government officials closed down a private telephone network operated by Hezbollah in south Lebanon and the southern parts of Beirut. Hezbollah says the communications system was critical to its success in its 34-day war against Israel in 2006.
The protests raised tensions in a country mired in a 17-month-old political crisis between the Hezbollah-led opposition supported by Iran and Syria and the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who is backed by the West and Saudi Arabia. The standoff has left the country without a president since Nov. 2007.
Fighting has moved outside the Lebanese capital, fuelling fears that the violence could spiral into an outright civil war. According to news reports, at least 81 people have been killed and more than 250 have been wounded since May 7 in what observers are calling the worst political crisis since the Lebanese civil war of the 1980s. – IFEX
The Investigative Committee of Russia’s Prosecutor-General’s Office announced on May 12 that it has charged 34-year-old ethnic Chechen Rustam Makhmudov in absentia with the murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya, local news reports said. The Investigative Committee has also issued an international warrant for Makhmudov’s arrest.
Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told journalists that seven suspects allegedly involved in Politkovskaya’s murder remain in custody as of today. Makhmudov is the alleged triggerman.
To this day, authorities have released no information as to the status of the investigation into who the mastermind is in Politkovskaya’s killing. Journalists at Novaya Gazeta, who are conducting their own investigation into their colleague’s murder, say they believe the mastermind is in Russia, not overseas.
Russia is the third deadliest country in the world for journalists, according to research by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Since 2000 alone, 14 journalists have been murdered for their work and in only one of these killings—that of Novaya Gazeta’s Igor Domnikov—have the killers been convicted; the masterminds are at large.
The May 12 announcement was the first to officially identify Politkovskaya’s alleged killer after his name was first leaked to the press in late March. According to Novaya Gazeta Editor-in-Chief Dmitry Muratov, the leak significantly hampered the investigation and facilitated the killer’s efforts to avoid arrest.
“As a whole, we are satisfied with the investigation of the triggerman and the organizers of the crime,” Muratov told CPJ. “But it is unclear what (authorities) are doing to find and prosecute the masterminds.”
Markin told journalists today that seven of the nine people charged with involvement in Politkovskaya’s Oct. 7, 2006 assassination remain in custody. Two have been released but are banned from leaving the country, Markin said.
Makhmudov’s brothers—ethnic Chechens Ibragim, Dzhabrail, and Tamerlan Makhmudov—remain as suspects in prison.
Also in custody are Shamil Burayev, the former head of the Achkhoi-Martan administrative district of Chechnya, who allegedly organized the murder; Pavel Ryaguzov, a former Federal Security Service (FSB) lieutenant colonel, and Sergei Khadzhi-kurbanov, a former police officer with the Moscow Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, who were allegedly responsible for the surveillance of the journalist and for “technical support” in the crime, local press reported.
Suspects Magomed Demel-khanov and Dmitry Grachyov have been released after signing an agreement not to leave the country, according to local news reports. The official investigation said the two played only a secondary role in Politkovs-kaya’s killing.
The announcement by the Investigative Committee broke a months-long official silence in the official Politkovskaya murder probe. In late August 2007, Russian authorities announced the arrest of 11 suspects in the journalist’s contract-style killing. (Three were subsequently released from custody.) Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika said at the time that Politkovskaya was killed on the order of overseas enemies aiming to destabilize Russia.
Politkovskaya, a special correspondent for the independent Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was well known for her investigative reports on corruption, torture, and human rights abuses committed by local and federal officials in Chechnya and the volatile North Caucasus. In seven years of covering the second Chechen war, Politkovskaya’s reporting repeatedly drew the wrath of Russian authorities. She was threatened, jailed, forced into exile, and poisoned during her career, CPJ research shows. – IFEX |
