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FULL AND IMMEDIATE COOPERATION OF VICTIMS’ FAMILIES
IS INDISPENSABLE FOR A SPEEDY RESOLUTION
Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor of the Department of
Justice (DOJ) and concurrent Chairman of Task Force
Against Political Violence and Extrajudicial Killings
(TF211) stated that, “the speedy resolutions of the last
three cases of media killings were realized because of
the complete and full cooperation of the victims’
families.”
This came in the wake of the recent apprehension and
filing of murder charges against the assailants of RMN
commentator Martin Roxas of Roxas City and the filing of
charges on the alleged assailants of another RMN
commentator, Dennis Cuesta of General Santos City in
just a span of two weeks. Blancaflor said, “the speedy
investigation and subsequent filing of those cases came
about because of the close cooperation extended by the
families of the victims.”
“We are pushing for final convictions so that the deaths
of our media professionals and the sufferings of their
loved ones shall never be in vain. The Arroyo
administration is not letting down its guards until
these killings are stopped,” he added.
Blancaflor further said, “I am renewing my call and
reiterating my pledge to put a decisive halt to the
violence being perpetuated against media practitioners
and reduce the list of pending cases filed in various
courts nationwide”.
“If these killings continue, and God forbid they don’t,
we appeal to the victims’ families to get in touch with
the Task Force by volunteering vital and fresh
information that would lead to the arrests of the
perpetrators and their masterminds and would expedite
government trials against them,” he said.
Blancaflor also asked them to check with Task Force 211
regarding the progress and/or status of these
media-related killing cases so that the government can
revive “cold cases” that might have been gathering dust
in various government offices in the country.
While suspected assailants have been arrested and
charged in court, he explained that the final
convictions of these perpetrators and masterminds shall
hopefully become an effective deterrent to the spate of
these media killings.
He assured the victims’ families or anyone who may have
information that would advance these media-killing cases
towards their final resolution, that the government will
provide confidentiality and protection under the Witness
Protection Program.
“The spate of political killings can not be resolved by
the government alone. TF 211, along with various law
enforcement agencies, requires the support and
cooperation of all the stakeholders so that these
political killings plaguing our free society would
become a thing of the past,” he said.
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