ILOILO CITY—Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor called “unfair” the statement of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte that most Filipino journalists who had been murdered were killed because they were corrupt.
“That’s not fair. Journalists are like politicians. There are honest ones and there are those who steal. But like politicians, most journalists are honest,” Defensor told reporters in a press conference on Thursday.
Defensor, who ran and won a third term under the Liberal Party, said journalists should not be killed even if they were corrupt.
“In the 10 Commandments (in the Holy Bible), (it is said that): Thou shall not steal. But nowhere it is written that if you steal, you will be shot,” the governor said.
Defensor was among those at the forefront of the resistance against the Marcos dictatorship. He was also a former commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government.
“It is not fair to shoot or kill any one because he is (corrupt),” he said. JE/rga
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