The
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the National
Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in calling on the Philippine
National Police to conduct a timely and thorough investigation into the
shooting attack on a reporter in the capital Manila on March 11.
Fernan
Angeles, 41, a political reporter for one of the national Philippines’ broadsheets, is in critical
condition after being shot and wounded by unidentified men in Manila’s
Pasig City municipality, late on the night of Sunday
March 11.
Angeles,
a reporter for the Daily Tribune,
sustained six gunshot wounds reportedly from a .45 calibre gun and a fracture
to his right arm after being attacked near his home in Pasig City.
Angeles
is currently confined to the intensive care unit of the Pasig General Hospital.
The NUJP said that they are still waiting for details, but have been told that
Angeles’ wife Gemma said the reporter remained unconscious as of the afternoon
of March 12.
“Philippines
police must quickly establish whether Angeles’ shooting is related to his work
as a journalist,” IFJ Asia-Pacific
Director Jacqueline Park said.
“The IFJ condemns the shooting and is concerned by
what appears to be a continuing escalation of violence against journalists in
the Philippines
in 2012.”
“We
call upon President Benigno Aquino III to honour his pre-election commitment to
defend press freedom in the Philippines,
by seeing that all attacks on media workers are investigated and the
perpetrators held accountable for their crimes.”
The
Philippines
remains one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists. According
to the NUJP, a total of 148 journalists have been killed in the country since
1986.
This week’s attack follows the shooting of radio broadcaster Fernando “Kapid” Gabio, in Iloilo
City in the Southern
Philippines on the morning of March 3.
For further
information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific
on +61 2 9333 0950
The IFJ represents
more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries
Find
the IFJ on Twitter: @ifjasiapacific
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the IFJ on Facebook: www.facebook.com/IFJAsiaPacific