SEVERAL senators and media groups on Sunday took turns denouncing the recent murder of a broadcast journalist in Albay, the 12th victim of an assassin’s bullets under the present dispensation.
Senator JV Ejercito fired the opening shot and prodded the national police to find the perpertrators in the killing of radio broadcaster Joey Llana in Barangay Peñafrancia, Daraga town, Albay.
“I urge the national police to find the perpetrators of this cowardly crime and ensure the safety of all journalists in the country,” Ejercito said.
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said “We cannot allow fear and impunity to reign in a democratic society.”
Earlier, Senator Grace Poe deplored Llana’s killing and urged the authorities “to swiftly act on this and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Poe said the increasing number of killings of journalists and the slow resolution of cases emboldened those who carry out the attacks against the members of the media.
Detained Senator Leila de Lima said Llana is yet another victim of the dark cloud of impunity enveloping our land.
“And frankly, to my mind, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque’s condemnation of this killing and promise of justice sound hypocritical,” she said.
Daraga police chief Supt. Benito Dipad said Llana was shot with a .45-cal. gun and a .9mm pistol as he was maneuvering his car out of the garage.
The victim, 43, of dwZR, suffered several gunshot wounds in the head and in the body.
Dipad said the family of the victim said the latter has been receiving death threats since last year from unknown persons but he did take it seriously.
Roque said the Palace strongly condemend the killing of Llana, noting that it is another infringement on the rights to life and a free press. He assured that the Presidential Task Force on Media Security would bring justice to another victim of media killings.
“The PTFoMs will be relentless in according justice to this latest victim,” Roque said.
For his part, PTFoMS executive director Joel Egco also condemned ‘in the strongest possible terms’ Llana’s killing, vowing to solve the case.
Egco has ordered the creation of a special investigation task group to look into the killing of the Albay reporter.
“This saddens me. This is the reason why it is very important that we should know the protocols on media security,” Egco said in a media interview in Baguio City.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said in a statement, “If proven to be related to his work, his death would be the 12th media killing under President Rodrigo Duterte, the third in Bicol and the 185th since 1986.”
The first radio commentator gunned down in Albay in early 2000 was Jun Villanueva of radio station dzGB in early 2000, followed by Roel Enrinal of dwZR later that same year.
The International Federation of Journalists condemned the latest attack on a Filipino journalist, and said every killing “weakened” Philippine democracy.
“The murder of Joey Llana earlier this morning in the Philippines underscores the dangerous working environment that the media in the Philippines faces every day,” IFJ general secretary, Anthony Bellanger said in a statemen.
