Pimentel pushes anew Senate inquiry into media killings

Sen. Koko Pimentel. Photo courtesy of Pimentel’s Facebook page.

MANILA  – Another media killing incident has prompted Senator Aquilino ‘Koko’ Pimentel Jr. to renew his call for a Senate inquiry in aid of legislation on the spate of media killing in the country.

Pimentel, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, made this proposal as he denounced the latest ambush-slaying of local broadcaster Maurito Lim of Tagbiliran City in Bohol.

”The savage media killings blotted the country’s image,” Pimentel said.

The Mindanao lawmaker called on police authorities to exert extra efforts in arresting the killers of media practitioners.

”We cannot allow impunity to reign especially at the expense of press freedom,” he said.

Pimentel has filed a Senate resolution seeking an investigation into the media killings mostly in Mindanao in order to get to the bottom of the worsening cases.

The senator expressed dismay over slow resolution of media work-related cases, including 80 journalists killed since 1992 as listed by Press watchdogs.

He noted the alleged gun men have either escape or remain at-large with police usually facing a blank wall because of refusal of the witnesses to cooperate for fear of their own lives.

In the latest World Press Freedom Index, the Philippines improved to 141st from last year’s 149th place among 180 countries.