DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 28, 2014) – Media watchdog Union of Journalists of the Philippines expressed concern over recent threats against a radio broadcaster Arturo “Jun” Sapanghari Jr. in Bukidnon province in northern Mindanao.
Jessie Casalda, who heads the NUJP chapter in Davao City, said Sapanghari – who works for church-owned radio station dxDB based in Malaybalay City – received threatening text messages from his cell phone, saying that he will be the next journalist that will be killed in Bukidnon.
Casalda said the threats sent through text messages never stopped since then. The unknown “texter” also told Sapanghari that his wife and child would not be spared.
The NUJP chapter in Bukidnon province reported that just recently, an unidentified man went looking for Sapanghari in his house and left on a motorcycle after failing to find him. It said the man matches the description of the suspect in the recent killings in Bukidnon.
On December 18, two unidentified men were also spotted near the house of Sapanghari, who is also the vice-chairperson of NUJP chapter in Bukidnon.
In November last year, gunmen murdered radio broadcaster Joas Dignos of dxGT Radyo Abante in Bukidnon’s Valencia City. He was shot 22 times. And now, Randy Makiputin, of Radyo Abante, has been receiving threats for helping Sapanghari.
Casalda said the NUJP is disgusted over the inaction of the government to address and stop the threats and attacks against media workers in the country. “Moreover, the government has failed to capture and prosecute perpetrators in previous cases including the killers of Dignos, thereby perpetrating the continuing state of impunity,” he said.
“NUJP-Davao City calls for the national and local government to address the threats against Sapanghari and his colleagues. We also remind President Aquino that there can be no daang matuwid and real democracy in this country if journalists are being threatened or killed and are suffering from poor working conditions,” Casalda said.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch reported that a dozen journalists were killed in 2013 and bringing the total number of media workers murdered under the Aquino administration to 26. Out of these 26 cases, only six cases have police arrested suspects.
The recent threats and attacks against Filipino journalists prove the claim of the Committee to Protect Journalists that the Philippines is the third most dangerous country in the world for media workers next to Iraq and Somalia. (Mindanao Examiner)
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