EDITORIAL - Task force vs impunity

While the order for a freedom of information policy in the executive branch, originally planned for release last week, is still being fine-tuned, the Duterte administration is reportedly forming a task force to focus on solving the killings of journalists.

This was announced by Malacañang following the latest attack on a media worker. Saturnino Estanio Jr., anchorman of dxRS Radio Mindanao Network in Surigao City, became the first journalist to be ambushed under the Duterte administration. Estanio and his five-year-old son were wounded in the attack last week.

There is an existing interagency committee tasked to investigate extralegal killings, but its mandate covers not just journalist deaths. Malacañang officials said last week that the administrative order to be issued would create a task force that would deal exclusively with violent attacks on journalists.

Both Benigno Aquino III and his predecessor Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, when they were president, had created inter-agency task forces tasked to address extralegal killings including those involving journalists. Deadly attacks on media workers continue, however, with over 150 killed since democracy was restored in 1986. The failure to solve most of the cases has put the Philippines on the top tier of countries where impunity in media killings is highest.

In the 2016 World Press Freedom Index, the Philippines saw a slight improvement in ranking but remained among the worst, inching up from last year’s 141st place to 138th. Reporters Without Borders, which draws up the index, said the Philippines remained among the countries with “very difficult” situations for the press.

Most of the murders go unpunished, the group reported. “In this climate of terror, media outlets succumb to self-censorship or corruption, in which journalists receive ‘favors’ in exchange for positive coverage,” the group observed.

President Duterte has gotten off on the wrong foot with mass media, but perhaps his task force can do a better job than previous ones. If his administration can apply the same zeal in solving media killings as in its brutal campaign against drugs, the nation might yet see an end to impunity.