Grave threat to press freedom
For a while there, the government had reason to rejoice.
On Oct. 6, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 228 convicted two men—accused mastermind Dante Encarnacion Tabusares and gunman Junell Jane Andagkit Poten—of murder for the killing of Kidapawan radio journalist Eduardo “Ed” Dizon on July 10, 2019. It had taken seven years, but the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) hailed the resolution of the case as a “crucial milestone in the pursuit of justice for [Dizon’s] family and the ongoing battle against impunity.”
PTFoMS was created by the Duterte administration in October 2016—the first administrative order signed by then President Rodrigo Duterte. “The reason why the President wanted this Admin Order or Administrative Order No. 1 is because he cares for you, for us. And he believes in freedom of the press,” said then Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, who was a TV broadcaster before heading Duterte’s media team.
The following six years would belie that assertion of respect for and belief in press freedom. Duterte declared the marching orders—”Your franchise will end next year. If you are expecting na ma-renew ‘yan, I’m sorry. You’re out. I will see to it that you’re out”—and his supermajority in Congress dutifully denied ABS-CBN, the country’s largest broadcast network, a franchise renewal, leading to its shutdown.
Relentlessly Red-tagged
Duterte attacked other media outlets, his officials relentlessly Red-tagged journalists, and by the end of his term on June 30, 2022, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) had tallied 20 journalists killed. Other organizations and media watchdogs put the number at 23.
Dizon, a broadcaster for Brigada News FM in Kidapawan City who was shot dead while driving home after his radio program, was the 14th journalist slain under the Duterte administration, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP). The conviction of his killers was undoubtedly a big step in pursuing justice and accountability for such attacks. But, underscoring the continuing enormity of the dangers being faced by Philippine media, yet another broadcaster has been fatally targeted just six days after the legal victory in the Dizon case.
On Monday afternoon, Oct. 12, Adrian “Golden Boy” Loterte, an anchor for RBN News Television’s Rabas Cun Rabas, died when two suspects fired multiple shots at him while he was outside his own bakery in Barangay San Roque, Daraga, Albay. The motorcycle-riding gunmen were able to escape—another depressingly familiar element in such incidents—leading the town mayor and a local media group to call on the police to apprehend the killers immediately.
Most dangerous countries
Condemning the attack, the Albay Press Club said, “No journalist or media practitioner should have to fear for their life while performing their duty to inform the public.”
That reminder, unfortunately, appears to have worryingly little traction in a country that characterizes itself as a democracy. From the start of President Marcos’ administration through his fifth State of the Nation Address in July, the NUJP has recorded grim figures: 12 media workers slain, 80 subjected to harassment, nearly 40 Red-tagged, and 19 subjected to cyberattacks. Even more disturbingly, of the 256 documented cases of attacks against the press, 58 were allegedly perpetrated by government officials, while 54 were attributed to state security forces.
That dismal state is reflected in international observations. This year, the Philippines ranked 114th out of 180 countries and territories in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index—just two notches up from 116th in 2025. “Despite its extremely dynamic media landscape, the Philippines is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists,” RSF noted.
Culture of violence
The last killing before Loterte was that of radio journalist Nestor Micator, a news reporter who was shot to death on May 21 by two unidentified men aboard a motorcycle in front of a village hall in Malidegao town, Cotabato province. And before him was the murky death of community journalist RJ Nichole Ledesma on April 19, allegedly during a military operation against communist rebels in Negros Occidental. According to Altermidya Network, however, Ledesma was not killed at the clash site but in a different locality.
That these killings are happening mere months apart points to a failure to ensure a safe environment for the press that the Marcos administration must address with the greatest urgency. Against this bloody backdrop, with cases piling up and many remaining unresolved for years, the guilty verdicts in the Dizon case represent a rare welcome break, which should encourage authorities to persevere in pursuing cases against the perpetrators of crimes against journalists. But, seen another way, they’re also a sobering reminder of the deep-seated culture of violence and impunity that remains a grave threat to Filipino media workers, and to press freedom itself.
