Duterte backing media killings ‘ultimate form of censorship’–lawyer

Incoming Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque has said that President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s endorsement of killing corrupt journalists is “the ultimate form of censorship.”

“I take strong exception to the statement of President-elect Duterte that journalists who were victims of extrajudicial killings were killed because they were corrupt. These journalists were killed by people who are scared of the truth. Moreover, alleged corruption by members of the press does not make them legitimate targets of assassination,” said Roque, the private prosecutor of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre which included three journalists.

Instead of endorsing the extermination of corrupt journalists, Roque said the incoming Duterte administration should move decisively against the forces of impunity that continued to imperil free expression and freedom of the press in the country.

Roque said he would push for the enactment of the bills on freedom of information and media protection.