PHILIPPINES: JOURNALIST FINDS HIMSELF ON ARMY "HIT LIST"
Last week a journalist the accused the Philippine Army of putting his name
on a military "hit list", report the Center for Media Freedom and
Responsibility (CMFR), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and
Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Carlos Conde, who regularly writes for "The New York Times", "International
Herald Tribune" and his blog http://carlosconde.com/ , said his name
allegedly appeared in an "order of battle" document prepared by the army in
2007.
Conde said the official document amounts to a "hit list" that contains more
than a hundred names, mostly members of anti-government groups. Allegedly he
is the only journalist on the list, and is classified as "targeted."
Orders of battle are usually extensive military plans that include tactics
and targets.
According to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), at
least one person on the list has been murdered; Celso Pojas, a peasant
leader in Davao City, was killed in 2008. "Others have been threatened and
harassed," the NUJP statement said.
In the past, political activists who have appeared on such lists are among
those who have been murdered in the Philippines allegedly by military and
paramilitary units. According to CMFR, more than 1,000 political activists
and 40 journalists have been killed in the Philippines since 2001.
Now based in Manila, Conde worked for a long time in Southern Mindanao,
covering the military's decades-old conflict with Muslim and communist
rebels. He told CMFR he believes his inclusion on the list is connected to
his being the former coordinator of NUJP in Davao City. He was also the
union's secretary-general from 2004-06, at which time he led local campaigns
against the killing of journalists.
"Why my name is included in the 'order of battle' is a mystery. Unless, that
is, the armed forces considers my and NUJP's advocacy for press freedom, as
well as pressuring the government to end the killings, as the work of
enemies of the state (and) unless the Armed Forces of the Philippines views
my job and my writing as threats to my country," he said in a 19 May
statement.
CPJ reports that this year alone, four radio journalists have been shot on
Mindanao, with a fifth attempted shooting in the northern province of Abra.
Extrajudicial killings have been the subject of concern by the United
Nations and human rights groups.
Officials of the 10th Infantry Division, the list's alleged authors, have
disowned the document. Colonel Lysander Suerte said in an interview with
CMFR that whoever came out with the document only wants to misinform and
"agitate the people to go against the military."
Related stories on IFEX.org:
- Journalist included in military "order of battle":
http://www.ifex.org/philippines/2009/05/21/conde_order_battle/
- Broadcaster critically injured in latest shooting:
http://www.ifex.org/philippines/2009/05/22/manalac_shot/
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