MikeLigalig.com

By Madel Sabater-Namit
http://www.mb.com.ph/
Published: May 3, 2013


Malacanang on Friday assured that the Aquino administration continues to intensify efforts to stop extrajudicial killings of journalists after the Philippines ranked third in the 2013 Impunity Index of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

“We will continue our efforts to stop the impunity against journalists, the extralegal killings,” Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said.

The Palace official said President Aquino has ordered the creation of a task force headed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima that would look into the extrajudicial killings involving journalists.

Lacierda also said the government is looking at the reasons behind the killing of journalists as some incidents are found to be non-related to work.

“When we look into each particular incident, we look into the motives also to segregate what was politically motivated or what other reasons led to the deaths,” Lacierda said.

The Philippines ranked third worst in terms of media killings. Iraq was ranked the worst in the Impunity Index followed by Somalia.

The CPJ noted that among the factors for the Philippines’ high ranking in the Impunity Index was the unresolved case of the Maguindanao massacre on November 23, 2009, which involved the killing of 57 individuals, including 32 journalists.