Alarmed by Killings, Filipino Journalists Aim for Self-Defense

On a recent rainy morning, seven journalists arrived at True Weight, an indoor firing range. Among them was Itchie Cabayan, who won first place in a "media fellowship shoot fest" held in February at a military firing range. Cabayan, 38, a small woman, writes a column for the daily tabloid Police Files Tonite. She said that she took up shooting firearms as a hobby but that when she began getting death threats -- "It will take just one bullet," one anonymous caller said -- she obtained a permit to carry a weapon.

Hernandez, a columnist for the popular tabloid Bulgar, writes under the rubric "Frankly" and takes aim at gambling bosses, drug dealers, politicians and corrupt police officers. Often, he names people, and he does not usually seek their comment.

He said he obtained a gun license after he was stabbed in the back in February with an ice pick. The suspects in the attack included a police colonel, said Espina-Varona.

Early on the morning of May 18, two men on a motorbike tried to block Hernandez's car, and one had a handgun drawn. Hernandez pulled out an Ingram semiautomatic weapon and fired. The assailants fired back as they sped away.

Journalists should arm themselves, he said, "because the government is not sincere about arresting the masterminds in the media killings."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has condemned the killings and ordered the formation of a task force to solve the problem. But, in the meantime, journalists such as Hernandez are taking no chances.

When the target practice was finished, an uncle and a friend, serving as bodyguards, accompanied Hernandez to a van with tinted windows. All three carried weapons.

Last week, an anonymous caller phoned Hernandez's paper and warned that "Pabs" would be "dead by July." Hernandez said he has stopped working in his newspaper office, opting instead for a safe house in Manila and submitting his columns by fax.

Although news outlets in the Philippines are considered free of government control, journalists acknowledge the need for greater professionalism, along with higher salaries and better training.

At the same time, there are many honorable journalists in the country. One of them, Syegco said, was Marlene Esperat, a columnist who was killed March 24 on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. Esperat had written a series of exposés about illegal logging and graft in the local Agriculture Department. The killing, at home in front of her family, spurred Syegco to form ARMED.

The group held its first formal target practice last week, and about 100 Manila journalists showed up, Syegco said, adding that chapters were being formed nationwide.

Espina-Varona said she believed that only a few journalists here would resort to carrying firearms. "There's really only one answer, and that's to arrest, prosecute and convict the killers," she said. "And to make sure that those police who are found to be protectors of killers of journalists are convicted as well."

Syegco said that his group was pressing for safety seminars for journalists, to teach them how to be alert for threats. New T-shirts would be provided, too, he said, bearing the message: "Start Kissing Journalists."