Joseph Peter Calleja
The killing of Percival Mabasa, an outspoken radio journalist known for his strong criticism of the Duterte and Marcos administrations, was gunned down in Las Piñas City, in the Philippine capital of Metro Manila on October 3, sparking renewed concerns about the dangers journalists face in the country.
The 63-year-old Mabasa, was shot and killed by assailants on a motorcycle who fired on his car police said. He was the second journalist to be gunned down since current president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office on June 30.
“He was entering a village when someone bumped the rear of his car. He immediately alighted from his vehicle to check the damage, thus becoming an easy target for the triggerman who fired shots from a motorcycle. There were witnesses who saw the event,” Las Pinas City police chief, Colonel Jaime Santos, told reporters on October 4.
Mabasa was known for his radio programme Lapid Fire in which he criticised the Duterte and Marcos administrations on topics such as extrajudicial killings and human rights violations.
On September 26, he criticised Duterte’s support for online offshore gaming involving Chinese nationals. He condemned Duterte for allowing the establishment of offshore gambling businesses in the Philippines while such enterprises are outlawed in China.
The killing shows that journalism remains a dangerous profession in this country. That the incident took place in Metro Manila indicates how brazen the perpetrators were, and how the authorities have failed to protect journalists as well as ordinary citizens from harm,
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines
“President Xi Jinping was the one who requested former president Rodrigo Duterte to ban online gaming. Xi himself said that gambling in China [besides Macau] is illegal. But Duterte did not act on Xi’s request. Why? Here in the Philippines, we don’t think about the source of money. We only think about the amount government officials will collect,” Mabasa said in his daily radio-television programme.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines condemned Mabasa’s killing, saying it was a threat to journalists and to press freedom.
“The killing shows that journalism remains a dangerous profession in this country. That the incident took place in Metro Manila indicates how brazen the perpetrators were, and how the authorities have failed to protect journalists as well as ordinary citizens from harm,” the union said in a statement.
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The union also noted Mabasa’s latest commentaries on red-tagging against the Duterte administration and the alleged historical revisionism being perpetuated by the Marcos family and their allies to whitewash crimes committed during the martial law years [1972 to 1986] imposed by Ferdinand Marcos Sr., father of the current president. Under Marcos Sr., 71 journalists were killed and tortured, according to media watchdog, the Philippine Movement for Press Freedom.
“Among the most recent commentaries on [Mabasa’s] YouTube channel was one on the dangers of red-tagging. He had also commented on the security risks of Philippine Offshore Gaming Corporation and on historical revision,” according to the union of journalists’ statement.
Assassination and any physical violence against journalists are crimes against society since this curtails freedom of expression which is guaranteed by the fundamental law and which all of us are entitled to enjoy
Sonny Matula
Red-tagging is the malicious labelling of individuals or groups or both as “terrorists” or “communists” for criticising the government.
The National Trade Union of the Philippines also condemned Mabasa’s gangland style killing.
“Assassination and any physical violence against journalists are crimes against society since this curtails freedom of expression which is guaranteed by the fundamental law and which all of us are entitled to enjoy,” trade union lawyer, Sonny Matula, said.
He said that as an anti-corruption and good governance crusader, Mabasa deserved “tall recognition” for holding the torch of press freedom.
Mabasa’s family members are devastated.
“We are deeply saddened and angered by the brutal and brazen killing of a fearless broadcaster, father and husband, brother and friend, Percy Lapid,” his family posted on Facebook.
Mabasa’s brother, Roy, also a journalist and former member of the National Press Club of the Philippines, said his brother’s death was not only an attack on their family but on the country.
We strongly condemn this deplorable crime. It was committed not only against Percy, his family, and his profession, but against our country, his beloved Philippines, and the truth
Roy Mabasa
0“We strongly condemn this deplorable crime. It was committed not only against Percy, his family, and his profession, but against our country, his beloved Philippines, and the truth,” Roy Mabasa told reporters on October 4.
As of July 2022, at least 195 journalists had been killed in the Philippines since 1986, according to a National Union of Journalists of the Philippines tally. Despite such killings, instances of perpetrators being brought to justice are rare in the country.
The worst incident occurred in Maguindanao province in Mindanao on 23 November 2009, when 57 people—including 32 journalists—were shot in election-related violence. In 2019, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court convicted two accused, 28 co-accused, and 15 other accessories to six to 40 years imprisonment for the massacre.
However, even before the Maguindanao killings, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists labelled the Philippines as the second most dangerous country for journalists after Iraq.
Reporters Without Borders in its 2022 Press Freedom Index ranked the Philippines 147th out of a total of 180 countries.
The Commission on Social Communications and Mass Media of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has condemned the killing and called for the perpetrators to surrender.
“We extend our deepest prayers, sympathy, and condolences to the family of Mr. Percival Mabasa. While we demand justice for his demise, we urge our government authorities to solve this killing with dispatch. We pray for the perpetrators to surrender in peace,” the commission’s executive secretary Father Ildefonso Dimaano said.
