Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. MARK GIONGCO/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) on Tuesday slammed Senator Alan Peter Cayetano for criticizing media outlets over their “kill lists,” saying the lawmaker “protested too much.”
“Cayetano protested too much when he insinuates that media have been blowing up the rash of killings that have accompanied the Duterte administration’s war on drugs or worse, are embarked on a campaign to tar the present dispensation,” NUJP Chairman Ryan Rosauro said in a statement.
In a speech during a Senate inquiry on drug-related killings yesterday, Cayetano hit media organizations, citing ABS-CBN and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, for coming up with “kill lists.”
READ: THE KILL LIST
Cayetano claimed that media highlighted the number of drug-related killings and tagged these as “extrajudicial killings” but failed to observe the positive effects of the administration’s anti-drug campaign.
Rosauro said Cayetano’s allegations against the media “have been dispelled by no less than PNP Director General Ronald dela Rosa who presented statistics” during Senate hearing on Monday.
Dela Rosa said that the number of killings since July 1, when the Duterte administration took office, had reached 1,779: 712 in police operations, and 1,067 outside of police operations, including possible vigilante killings.
READ: Cops linked to drugs, slays
Rosauro said Cayetano made irresponsble claims that media is among those being bought with drug money to discredit the administration.
“Such allegations, without any proof, not only serve to unjustly cast a pall of suspicion over the Philippine media and, in particular, the journalists who toil on the front lines but, much worse, put lives in danger,” Rosauro said.
Rosauro clarified that the NUJP shared Cayetano’s desire to rid the country of crime and drugs but condemned groundless allegations against media.
“But we do mind it when his zeal drives him to spout careless and baseless accusations that endanger not only us but others as well,” he said. Jaehwa Bernardo, INQUIRER.net trainee/RAM/rga