THE Duterte administration will create a Presidential Task Force on Media Killings to investigate the killings of journalists, Communications Secretary Martin M. Andanar announced on Sunday.
Andanar said an administrative order is already being drafted by Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea to create the task force.
“There is an administrative order being drafted. It has something to do with the Presidential Task Force against Media Killings, which I have been pushing for,” Andanar said in an interview with government radio station Radyo ng Bayan.
Despite the rift between members of the media and President Duterte, due to his earlier statements hinting that media killings were motivated by corrupt activities of those targeted to be assassinated, Andanar said the Duterte administration would still pursue justice for murdered journalists.
Just hours after Mr. Duterte took his oath of office on June 30, a radio broadcaster critical of illegal-drugs and gambling in Surigao City survived a a murder attempt.
“Radio commentator Saturnino ‘Jan’ Estanio and his 12-year-old son survived an ambush attempt on June 30. Estanio is known for his unrelenting tirades against the illegal-drug trade and illegal gambling in Surigao City. These are the same crimes being strongly pursued by the government of President Rodrigo Duterte,” Andanar said in a statement.
“We condemn this horrific act of violence. We find comfort in the fact that both father and son have survived to tell their story. We need journalists who will fight the same crusade as the government. We need journalists who will not be cowed by threats in order to rid the nation of vices such as illegal drugs and illegal gambling. Whatever the perpetrators of this crime think that they’ll achieve by an attempt to murder a journalist, like Estanio, they have already failed. We assure you, we stand by the side of good men. Justice will be served,” he said.
More than 30 journalists have been assassinated during the Aquino administration, the National Press Club said. These frequent attacks on journalists have put the Philippines among the ranks of Iraq and Syria in the top 10 most dangerous countries for journalists to be working, according to the international press-freedom advocate Reporters Without Borders.