17 Feb Jounalist Dr. Gerry Ortega May 12, 1979 – Jan 24, 2011

Journalists in the Philippines are often targeted by powerful people who want to silence them, especially journalists who report on heated political and environmental issues. On Jan 24, 2011 days before my arrival in Palawan, prominent news anchor and commentator with dwAR Dr. Gerry Ortega was gunned down in the San Pedro district of Puerto Princessa City. It happened in front of the clothing store in the above photo. Ortega had just left his weekly radio show titiled, “RAMARAK” aka “Rapid Fire”. It was a show designed to speak truthfully about his concerns regarding corruption, government spending, mining and logging. Ortega reportedly was investigating where and how the government was spending money made from local mining operations. The gunman Marlon de Camata aka Marvin Alcaraz was hired from Taguig City to kill the broadcaster for approximately $3500USD. Following the killing and his fortunately quick capture Alcaraz relinquished information that led to the arrest of ten individuals, including former high officials of Palawan and Marinduque provinces.

For me, the real conversation is not the details of this particular slaying, but in the words of IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park, “this brutal attack is an affront to free speech and press freedom in an already restrictive environment of government control.” Our world has become a very dangerous place to speak out. And it is happening not only in the Philippines, but in Mexico, Cairo, Vietnam, Iran and beyond. I commend individuals such as Gerry, who take the known risk to talk about the truth in a country where money rules all. He was willing to risk everything to bring the facts to the people through his radio program. After spending 2 weeks in Palawan I can say that Gerry Ortega is a household name. Love him or hate his cause, everyone knows who he is and knows what he fought for. His death made his cause stronger and it will hopefully help in the reduction of widespread corruption.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said that 142 journalists had been murdered since the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the restoration of democracy in 1986. — AFP