Philippines at No. 7 among countries worst in convicting killers of journalists

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Read: Marcos admin committed to protecting journalists

The murder of two journalists under the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, a global media watchdog said, raised fers that meddia killings in the Philippines might continue.

The murders of radio broadcaster Percival Mabasa and reporter Renato Blanco since Marcos took the country’s helm in late June 2022 “raised fears that the culture of violence and impunity (against media) will endure (in the Philippines), said the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in a report.

CPJ, a New York-based organization that monitors violence against media, in its annual Global Impunity Index, placed the Philippines at No. 7 among countries worst in convicting killers of journalists.

This is the third straight year that the Philippines earned the spot in the CPJ index with 14 murders still unsolved. 

Dinoy was working for a Mindanao-based online news outfit as a reporter and ancho,, when shot dead on October 30 in Bansalan town in Davao del Sur, by an unidentified gunman who forcibly entered his apartment.

Hard-hitting radio broadcaster Mabasa, also known as Percy Lapid, was killed near his home in Las Piñas City on October 3.

During the 2022 presidential election campaign, the favorite whipping dogs of Mabasa in his radio and social media commentaries were the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte and then presidential bet Marcos.

“The election of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. brought hope of a shift away from outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign of intimidation and harassment of the press,” the CPJ, said in its report. in a lament that pointed to the killings of mediapersons under the administration of Marcos, son of the late dictator President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

The top 8 countries in the CPJ Global Impunity Index in descending order with the highest tally of unsettled media-related murders are Somalia, Syria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Mexico, Philippines and Myanmar.