Communications Secretary Martin Andanar. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JAM STA. ROSA
MANILA, Philippines — Communications Secretary Martin Andanar vowed Saturday that the Duterte administration will end attacks against the media as the country commemorates the 10th anniversary of Maguindanao massacre.
“We will work to prevent and put an end to attacks on journalists, who are simply fulfilling their obligations to disseminate truth and information to the public,” Andanar said in a statement.
Andanar also promised that the government will continue to seek justice and apprehend perpetrators of media killings in the Philippines.
“The Duterte administration and the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) will continue to perform their duties so that instances where brutal killings, such as that in the Maguindanao massacre, will not go unpunished for years or more so will never happen at all,” he said.
Andanar also extended his sympathies to families of victims of the massacre which was dubbed as the single, deadliest attack against the press.
The Maguindanao massacre took the lives of 58 people, of which 38 are journalists.
According to media institutions, over 85 cases of attacks against the media have been reported since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed his post.