A day after the International Day to End Impunity was observed in commemoration of the second anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre, a radio broadcaster was shot in Cagayan de Oro City. Fortunately, Michael James Licuanan survived the attack by two gunmen on a motorcycle.
Licuanan, also known as James Dacoycoy, is the chief of reporters of Radyo Bombo. He was on his way home on his motorcycle last Thursday night when he was shot in Barangay 30. Police investigators are eyeing drug dealers Licuanan had criticized in his radio show. Checkpoints have been set up in the city and a task force formed by the regional police in Northern Mindanao to get the gunmen.
Reports said Licuanan received death threats by phone two weeks ago. In this country, such anonymous calls cannot simply be ignored by journalists. Too many threats have been carried out, and unlike Licuanan, most of the targets did not survive. With the police appearing to have a suspect in mind, perhaps Licuanan’s case will be one of the rare ones wherein justice will be rendered.
Too many cases of attacks targeting journalists are waiting to be solved. Public outrage over the Maguindanao massacre at least has put the once-powerful principal suspects in the case under detention without bail. But the case could drag on even longer than usual. And with the long wait for someone to be punished, there are those who will continue to think that the best way to deal with bad press is to permanently silence the messenger.
Ending that attitude was what the observance of the International Day to End Impunity was supposed to be all about. Six journalists have been killed in work-related attacks this year in the Philippines. Since the restoration of democracy in 1986, 147 journalists have been murdered, with most of the cases still waiting to be solved.
The attack on Licuanan hardly bodes well for the effort to end impunity. The government must exert all effort to get the gunmen and anyone who might have ordered the hit. Every time an attack on a journalist is solved and the perpetrators put behind bars, it makes people think twice before carrying out any plan to murder a journalist.