Ben Madilynn
THE family of slain Filipino broadcast journalist and environmentalist Dr. Jerry Ortega, along with human rights and media organizations in the Philippines and abroad, welcomed the arrest made by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after former Palawan governor Mario Joel Reyes turned himself to the authorities on September 11, 2024 in Manila.
Reyes, who was implicated by a gunman and his accomplice in the killing of Ortega on January 24, 2011, after his radio program in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan province, fled the country in 2012 and was subsequently arrested in 2015 in Phuket, Thailand, along with his brother, before being extradited back to the Philippines.
“However, our optimism remains cautious. More than 13 years have passed, and we have yet to see the swift and fair trial that the overwhelming evidence against the former governor demands. We remember that Reyes evaded justice for over a year after the warrant was reissued—resurfacing only when it suited him,” the Ortega family said in a statement to the media on September 12.
“We urge our government to uphold fairness and accountability, as the failure to do so would only embolden those in power to silence voices like Doc Gerry’s… If justice eludes this case, we fear the consequences for those who continue to speak out against corruption and impunity,” the Ortega family added.
Carlos Conde, a former Filipino journalist and now senior researcher at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, hoped that Reyes’s surrender “will bring closure to that case.”
“I’m sure this affords a measure of relief to Ortega’s family, but obviously the fight is not yet over. Reyes is clearly a very powerful politician, so the thing to watch now is to make sure that due process takes its course,” Conde told Sunstar Philippines in an interview.
Ortega, 47, was known as a fierce critic of Reyes, particularly regarding the governor’s alleged involvement in mining activities and corruption issues in the island province of Palawan, in the southwesternmost part of the Philippines.
“We note that custody is just a first step in holding Reyes to account and urge vigilance from the public and the media community in this case, as in other cases of media attacks,” added the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, which continues to monitor the case of Ortega and other media killings, on September 12.
The Presidential Task Force on Media Security, a state-backed media body established in 2016 during the regime of former firebrand president Rodrigo Duterte to protect the life, liberty, and security of media workers in the country, disclosed that the 72-year-old has undergone treatment at a hospital in Metro Manila due to his medical condition while surrendering to the authorities.
“Aside from solving all the cases of media killings and quickly responding to cases of attacks and harassment against members of the press under the present administration, the PTFoMS, with the support of all its agency partners, is continuing its pursuit of the so-called ‘old cases’ of media killings such as the murder of Dr. Gerry Ortega that happened more than 13 years ago,” said the task force’s Executive Director, Undersecretary Paul Gutierrez in a report from Catholic news site UCA News.
As this developed, Belgium-based media watchdog International Federation of Journalists maintained that justice for the murder of Ortega “is long overdue.”
“The Philippines’ bleak history of impunity for journalist killings must be overcome, case by case, victim by victim,” the group said in a statement on September 12.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), there have been 117 journalists killed in the Philippines over the last 30 years, of which 81 cases remain unsolved, as of a February 2024 report. (SunStar Philippines)
