THE United Nationalist Alliance said Thursday press freedom will be at risk if Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte wins the presidency in this year’s elections.
The group said three journalists in Davao were the victims of summary executions by the notorious Davao Death Squad.
UNA spokesman Mon Ilagan cited Reporters Without Borders, which has said that the global score of the Philippines in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index fell 3.47 points from last year’s 41.19.
Ilagan said they feared the dangers the media would be exposed to under a Duterte presidency.
“Our journalists are being attacked left and right,” said Ilagan, a former broadcaster.
“It is frightening to imagine the media under a leader who promises a bloody cleansing under his rule but only prey on the poor, the helpless and those who dare to speak against him.” said.
UNA standard-bearer Jejomar Binay had earlier assured the National Press Club that his administration would give priority to the resolution of cases involving the media.
He said he would create an independent commission to investigate the summary executions perpetrated by the Davao Death Squad, which has been tagged by the United Nations, Amnesty International, and other human rights groups for the killing of thousands of civilians including minors.
The independent commission would be composed of former Supreme Court justices and members of human rights groups, the National Press Club and the Commission on Human Rights.
“A Binay administration will defend the freedom of the press. He witnessed the suppression of press freedom and the harassment of journalists as a human rights lawyer during martial law,” Ilagan said.
Binay has also taken Duterte to task for the unresolved murder of three journalists whose deaths are being blamed on the Davao Death Squad, a vigilante group suspected of carrying out extra-judicial killings in Davao City.
Broadcaster Juan Pala was killed in September 2003. Rene Galope, who was critical of Duterte’s management style, was killed in November 2004. Radioman Fernando Lintuan was ambushed and shot dead on Christmas eve in 2007 after exposing the alleged misuse of public funds in the construction of the Davao Peoples’ Park.