Philippines' president-to-be endorses killing journalists

Journalists are legitimate targets for extra-judicial killing, Philippine president-elect Duterte said Tuesday as he amped up his controversial anti-crime crusade.

JOURNALISM

Philippines' Duterte endorses killing journalists

1/06/2016
AFP News agency

Thailand experienced a brief spate of extra-judicial killings in 2003 during Thaksin's so-called "War on Drugs" during which allegedly thousands died in mysterious killings that have never been fully researched or explained (see here, here, here & here).

"Extrajudicial killing" is the killing of criminal suspects (usually by police, soldiers or organised crime collaborating with police) without a trial where evidence is presented and proof that the suspect is actually guilty of a crime deserving a death sentence and execution is established.

Perhaps under the pressure of international condemnation, Thailand turned away from the policies that encouraged extra-judicial killings and such a spate of mass killings has not been repeated in Thailand since.

Now, the Philippines seems destined to walk the same path. That journalists may become the target is especially scary.

JOURNALISTS AS TARGETS OF EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLING

Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday that "corrupt" journalists were legitimate targets for assassination (extra-judicial killing).

The president-elect endorsed the extra-judicial killing of journalists as he amped up his controversial anti-crime crusade with offers of rewards for killing drug traffickers.

PLEDGED KILLING SPREE TO END ALL CRIME

Philippines' president-elect Rodrigo Duterte was voted in on an anti - crime agenda, pledging to kill tens of thousands of criminals.

Duterte won May's election by a landslide largely due to an explosive law-and-order platform in which he pledged to end crime within six months by killing tens of thousands of suspected criminals.

TIRADES OF FOUL-MOUTHED POLITICIAN

The foul-mouthed politician has launched a series of post - election tirades against criminals and repeated his vows to kill them -- particularly drug traffickers, rapists and murderers.

In a press conference called on Tuesday to announce his cabinet in his southern hometown of Davao, Duterte said journalists who took bribes or engaged in other corrupt activities also deserved to die.

ASKED HOW HE WOULD ADDRESS PROBLEM OF MEDIA KILLINGS

"Just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination, if you're a son of a bitch," Duterte said when asked how he would address the problem of media killings in the Philippines after a reporter was shot dead in Manila last week.

The Philippines is one of the most dangerous nations in the world for journalists, with 174 murdered since a chaotic and corruption - plagued democracy replaced the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos three decades ago.

"Under Marcos... military murder was the apex of a pyramid of terror—3,257 killed, 35,000 tortured, and 70,000 incarcerated," according to University of Wisconsin historian of the Philippines Alfred McCoy (see here).

POSSIBLE DEATH FOR DEFAMATION

"Most of those killed, to be frank, have done something."

"You won't be killed if you don't do anything wrong," Duterte said, adding that many journalists in the Philippines were corrupt."

Duterte also said freedom of expression provisions in the constitution did not necessarily protect a person from violent repercussions for defamation.

"That can't be just freedom of speech. The constitution can no longer help you if you disrespect a person," he said.

DUTERTE CRITIC DESERVED TO DIE

Duterte raised the case of Jun Pala, a journalist and politician who was murdered in Davao in 2003.

Gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead Pala, who was a vocal critic of Duterte.

His murder has never been solved.

"If you are an upright journalist, nothing will happen to you," said Duterte.

Duterte has ruled Davao as mayor for most of the past two decades and is accused of links to vigilante death squads.

"The example here is Pala. I do not want to diminish his memory but he was a rotten son of a bitch. He deserved it."

MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE: 58 JOURNALISTS DEAD 

One of the world's deadliest attacks against journalists took place in the Philippines in 2009.

32 journalists were among 58 people killed by the warlord Ampatuan family intent on stopping a rival's election challenge.

For six years, more than 100 people have been on trial for the massacre (mass killings), including many members of the Ampatuan family accused of planning and orchestrating the killings

The trial has been plagued by problems with getting witnesses to testify and judges to preside over the trial when there is obvious danger to their lives.

DUTERTE APPOINTS LAWYER OF FAMILY WHICH ORCHESTRATED KILLINGS

Duterte has named Salvador Panelo, the former defence lawyer for the Ampatuan family in the mass-murder trial, as his presidential spokesman, a nomination criticised by the victims' families and journalists' organisations.

Duterte, who will assume office on June 30, also said he would offer bounties to law enforcement officers who killed drug traffickers.

HIRED KILLERS TO BE EMPLOYED BY GOVT

He said three million pesos ($21,000) would be paid to law enforcers for killing drug lords, with lesser amounts for lower-ranking people in drug syndicates.

Outlining some of his other plans for his war on crime, Duterte said he would give police special forces shoot-to-kill orders and send them into the main jail in Manila where prisoners run drug trafficking operations.

JUNIOR SOLDIERS WILL KILL CORRUPT SENIOR POLICE

Duterte also said he would enlist junior soldiers to kill corrupt top-ranking police officers who were involved in the drug trade.

"I will call the private from the army and say: 'Shoot him'," Duterte said.

START THE KILLING NOW, DON'T WAIT FOR ME 

He also urged police not to wait until he assumed the presidency, and start killing criminals immediately. "Now, now," he urged them.

Police earlier confirmed killing 15 people in a series of drug raids across the country over the past week, which the human rights organization Amnesty International described as a sharp and sudden escalation in the long-standing problem of questionable deaths by Filipino security forces.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/996353/philippines-duterte-endorses-killing-corrupt-journalists-drug-dealers

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