List of journalists killed in the Philippines

The term "media killing" has various definitions: • The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) considers all media killings as work-related unless there is proof otherwise. • The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) records journalist killings if there are reasonable grounds to believe these are work-related. initially presumes all reported killings of such personnel as work-related and takes initiative in the investigation as a matter of protocol. In the case of the 32 journalists slain in Maguindanao in 2009, they are reported to have been killed in the line of duty, as recorded by both CMFR and NUJP. This contradicts the claims made by TF Usig, which considers the incident to be election-related. The journalists were not the intended targets of the killers and are categorized as "collateral damage." Additionally, media activists have expressed concerns about the task force's counts since 2001, as they have documented only a small percentage compared to the tallies from CMFR and NUJP. ==Background==

Statistics Journalism-related indices Despite the Philippines having one of the most liberal media environments in Asian countries, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said that it is the deadliest for journalists in the Asia–Pacific. in that year by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The country had been on its list of the twenty deadliest from 2007 until being excluded in 2015. which have remaining since 2013. Impunity occurs when people or the state are not held responsible for the killings of journalists. The country, which has reported an unsolved killing almost annually since 1992 according to CPJ, has been in the index since then, "frequently in the [top] spot." Other groups also report similarly high numbers. Data from the CPJ shows 159 killed since 1992; UNESCO reported 117 since 1996, with the majority of them having the state's publicized responses to Director General's request for information on judicial follow-up. Both include the most recent killing, the death of Juan Jumalon in November 2023. Prior to Jumalon's death, PTFoMS reported that there were 142 work-related killings, also since 1986. RSF, on the other hand, has an estimate of directly work-related killings that is a little less than the estimate of the NUJP. Most deaths, according to NUJP PTFoMS, created through Administrative Order No. 1 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte in October 2016, has been acting on the later cases; also, it has been gathering all data from various sources to map prior cases in the country and to exercise investigative powers on them; the results (shown at the table) until the 2019 verdict on the Ampatuan massacre case are recorded. NPC, as well as the military and a journalists' group in Manila, both reported more cases from mid-1984 to mid-1985, more than twice than the previous decade. Either military personnel or paramilitary units were the perpetrators in several cases. Few of these were said to be solved, few suspects were arrested, and at least a conviction was reported. In 2006, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo created Task Force Usig in response to the rising number of murders of journalists and activists. While the supervisory body reportedly accomplished police reform and increased coordination, among other accomplishments, it was criticized by media activists for failure to provide necessary logistics. Additionally, it was deemed ineffective as it operated from Camp Crame and relied on local police investigators vulnerable to political pressure. ==Pre-1980s==

• Antonio Abad Tormis, Republic News editor and columnist, was shot on July 3, 1961, in front of the Masonic Temple building in Cebu City. Felipe Pareja, city treasurer at that time, had been the subject of Tormis' commentaries on graft. Pareja, the mastermind, and the gunman, Cesario Orongan, were convicted and imprisoned. This is the only such case in Cebu considered work-related. • Ermin Garcia Sr., editor of the Dagupan Sunday Punch newspaper, was shot dead in his office by two hitmen in Dagupan, Pangasinan on 20 May 1966. The next edition of the Sunday Punch revealed that Garcia was working on exposing the illegal practices of some local politicians at the time, and that the killing was most likely related. • Celso Tan, DYRL commentator, was shot dead in May 1967 in his home in Bacolod. He had been exposing in his program a criminal syndicate, which was later believed to be behind the killing. This is the first such killing in the city and in Negros Occidental. ==1980s==

Pre-1986 • Demosthenes "Demy" Dingcong, Lanao provincial correspondent of Bulletin Today, was shot by an unidentified gunman in his house in Iligan, Lanao del Norte on December 5, 1980. He had written exposés about anomalies in the local government activities, including that on the missing fund intended for the students of Mindanao State University; also on military abuses, and the situation of the political prisoners in the province. He had already received threats from local officials. • Vicente (Vic) Villordon, DYLA anchor, a critic of both the Marcos government and the communist movement, was shot by two gunmen on December 28, 1984, outside the station in Cebu City. The case has been unsolved. In a 2006 report by The Philippine Star, a former communist rebel claimed Villordon and Leo Enriquez III (killed in 1987), his former colleagues in the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People's Army (CPP–NPA), were killed by their comrades. • Gorge Batoctoy of defunct National Media Production Center, Davao City. • Alexander Orcullo, worked for a newspaper in Davao, was gunned down. • Noe Alejandrino of Bulacan, was claimed by the military as a Communist rebel leader who was killed after engaging soldiers in a firefight. 1986 1987 1988 1989 ==1990s==

1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Unknown date • In the early 1990s, Pedro "Pete" Dahan, a DXUM block-timer announcer, was shot dead in Davao City. The killing was linked to various aspects other than him being a journalist. ==2000s==

2000 2001 For 2001, RSF reported two cases as work-related: Rolando Ureta and Candelario "Jhun" Cayona Jr. RSF said that by year-end, the killings of two other journalists could not be established if work-related. 2002 2003 CPJ reported six work-related murders; all remain unsolved and none were charged. 2004 RSF, noticing surge in violence in the election period, reported 2004, when general elections were held, as the deadliest year for the press at that time. Fifteen of the 197 accused were members of the Ampatuan clan including the masterminds, former provincial governor Andal Sr., died July 2015, and his sons, Andal Jr. and Zaldy, former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor. On December 19, 2019, in a verdict by Quezon City RTC, 28 principal respondents, including eight Ampatuan clan members especially the brothers, were convicted for 57 counts of murder, including 31 media workers, and were sentenced with reclusión perpetua without parole; 15 were sentenced to lower prison terms for being accessories to the crime. By January 2020, four more accused, one of them among those acquitted, were under police custody; 77 remain at large. ==2010s==

2010 In the final month of the Arroyo administration, three radio journalists were killed. Desidario Camangyan was killed while hosting a singing contest at Manay, Davao Oriental on June 14. Within 48 hours, Joselito Agustin was murdered in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, for his political reporting. Nestor Bedolido was the last journalist killed that month. 2011 2012 2013 The International News Safety Institute (INSI) reported that a total of 14 journalists died; the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) documented 13 cases, nine of them targeted killings. On the other hand, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility said ten other media workers remained missing and were presumed dead. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch reported only 12 killed journalists. Several local media stations and offices in the city were destroyed by the storm.