CEBU CITY — Wearing black shirts and armbands, some 100 journalists, including newspaper editors, and radio commentators and anchors, marched here on Thursday to denounce the mass killing of at least 27 of their colleagues in Maguindanao province.

“We condemn the killings of the journalists and innocent civilians in Maguindanao and we are asking the police for a swift resolution of the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice,” said Elias Bacquero, president of the Cebu Federation of Beat Journalists.

The marchers, who accounted for nearly all of the media practitioners in the city, marched from JY Square in Lahug at 10:30 a.m. toward the Marcelo B. Fernan Cebu Press Center, where a resolution of the federation was read.

Among the speakers were Sunstar editor in chief Pacheco Seares, hard-hitting commentator Bobby Nalzaro of radio dySS and GMA 7, and lawyer Rufil Bañoc of radio dyHP.

“I’m happy that despite the short notice, many of our colleagues attended and that’s because the killing of innocent civilians, including the journalists, was unacceptable and inhuman,” Baquero said.

Lawyer-journalists

The Cebu Media Legal Aid (Cemla) also released a statement of condemnation.

“The Maguindanao massacre already stands out for its sadistic brutality and cruelty and utter contempt of the state’s will. What may still enhance its record of inhumanity is when the government fails to mete out the punishment the perpetrators justly deserve,” said the statement signed by nine lawyers, who are also media practitioners.

“We don’t call for the lynching of the suspects though many of our people may want that. We demand though that the apparatus of law and order and the wheels of justice move swiftly, unimpeded by the guiles of wealth and power,” it said.

The statement was signed by lawyers Eddie Barrita, Piedad “Bingo” Gonzalez, Fritz Quinanola, Pedro Rosito, Lucille Karen Malilong-Esberto, Elias Espinosa, Francisco Malilong jr., Maria Dee Seares-Del Rosario and Rosemarie Verosoza.

In Legazpi City, at least 300 journalism students, who also wore black shirts and armbands, joined a candle-lighting vigil at the Bicol University College of Arts and Letters on Wednesday night to pray for the massacre victims.

Bicol University, with a student population of 19,000, is the only state university that offers a journalism program in the region.

“There is an inevitable risk in the profession. But for as long as I know my limits, I will not be threatened,” said Julius Embile, 19, a senior journalism student.

“I know very well that no story is worth dying for. Journalists should calculate the odds right,” he said.

Embile wore a black shirt he borrowed from his journalist father and printed with the message: “Stop Killing Journalists.”

Lessons for media students

“It is noble to commemorate the example that the slain journalists set, the courage they displayed to cover a historical event in the South,” Embile said. But, he said, there were also lessons that aspiring journalists could draw from the tragedy.

“I have learned that journalists should always put self-preservation first as an incentive,” Embile said.

“Brutality in that extent has no place in any civilized society. It’s more than an affront to freedom of expression,” said Prof. Cet Dematera, head of the journalism department of Bicol University.

Online protest

On the social networking site Facebook, communication students from Aquinas University, also in Legazpi, posted a statement condemning the massacre and asking international human rights groups to intervene in order to pressure the Philippine government to serve justice to the victims.

A student from Ateneo de Naga University created a thumbnail photo showing a black ribbon and a “Stop Killing Journalists” tag that was used by many as their profile photos on social networking sites as sign of protest and mourning.

Dr. Juliet Borres, Bicol University’s Arts and Letters dean, said the reactions of the journalism students showed that they were aware of pressing issues in society and that they embraced their chosen field of profession.

Opposition

In Manila, the United Opposition (UNO) criticized Malacañang for giving a “lame excuse” on their apparent failure to stop media killings.

“For Malacañang to say it does not have full control of the situation—and for administration officials to beg understanding by saying they are only human—is to admit that the present administration has failed to govern, that it has failed to enforce the rule of law,” said UNO president Jejomar Binay.

“Under the present administration, journalism has become a dangerous profession. And when most media killings go unresolved, it only emboldens criminal elements to go after journalists,” Binay said in a statement.

“Unless the administration takes decisive action to bring the killers of journalists to justice, it cannot escape the criticism that it is tolerating these criminal acts,” he said. With reports from Johana Vi Gasga, Ephraim Aguilar and Jonas Cabiles Soltes, Inquirer Southern Luzon; and Allison W. Lopez in Manila