Press Release
August 6, 2013

KOKO CONDEMNS MEDIA KILLINGS, URGES SWIFT GOVT ACTION

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, PDP Laban President, today expressed alarm over the recent spate of killings of members of media.

"I condemn in the strongest possible terms the recent killings of journalists and urge the police to thoroughly investigate these cases and bring the perpetrators to justice," Pimentel said.

The lawmaker said "the government must firmly put an end to the culture of impunity that allows the perpetrators to remain scot-free and thus commit murder and mayhem again and again."

Just recently, two columnists of a now-defunct tabloid, Richard Kho and Bonifacio Loreto, were gunned down in Quezon City. Their families believe that the twin murders were the result of their hard-hitting stance against wrongdoing by certain public officials.

Pimentel said many cases of violence against journalists in the past had gone unsolved, with only a few having been arrested and prosecuted in court.

The senator from Mindanao urged police authorities to prioritize the investigation of cases against journalists as "freedom of the press is a hallmark of our democratic system and any curtailment of this freedom, whether through nuisance libel suits or harassment and outright murder of crusading journalists by hired killers, is a direct assault on our democracy as well."

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