Drilon said the wanton killings of journalists and militant activists, especially in the countryside, continued to project an image of political instability and lawlessness in the Philippines to the international media.
If these killings remain unsolved, Drilon said, the Philippines would never be able to achieve political stability and attract foreign investors to support the government’s claim that the country is on its way to economic recovery.
"These incidents, which have attracted the concern of the international community, indicate that the Philippines is becoming a lawless and unstable society, where the rule of law is being disregarded with impunity," Drilon said.
The Senate chief cited the fatal shooting of another journalist, George Benaojan, in Talisay, Cebu, last Dec. 1, and the killing of a woman activist, Cathy Alcantara, in Bataan last Dec. 5. According to the International Federation of Journalists, the killing of Benaojan brought to 10 the number of journalists killed in the Philippines this year.
Alcantara, secretary-general of the Kilusan para sa Demokrasya (Movement for Democracy) in Bataan, is also among scores of political and social activists killed in recent months and years.
The Bayan Muna party, represented in Congress by Party-Rep. Satur Ocampo, has complained that many of its leaders and activists in the provinces have also been victims of extra-judicial killings.
Drilon declared that the killings of activists and journalists in the country show that the Philippine National Police and other law-enforcement agencies of the government have failed to maintain law and order, while the justice department has failed to bring the perpetrators to justice as shown by the failure of the government to arrest and convict those responsible for the extra-judicial violence.
So far, this year, only one person accused of killing a journalist has been convicted, he said.
Drilon said that lawlessness and political instability have "profound and long-range effects on the economy, discouraging both local and foreign investments, thereby causing further unemployment, more poverty and continuing the vicious cycle of criminality."
