In “encouraging” move, journalist’s killer sentenced to life imprisonment

Reporters Without Borders welcomes the life sentence passed on hit man Madix Maulana for the 2005 murder of radio journalist Edgar Amoro in Pagadian, on the southern island of Mindanao. The organisation regards it as an “encouraging sign” but believes the case should not be closed until the masterminds and accomplices have been identified and brought to trial. In a written message to Reporters Without Borders after sentencing, Amoro’s daughter wrote: “Finally, the day has come when I could gladly say to the spirit of my late dad, ‘This is the day I promised you, Father’.” Maulana’s lawyers plan to appeal against the verdict, reached on 26 January by a court on the neighbouring island of Cebu. “We hail the Amoro family’s courage,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Despite the threats to their lives, they fought to obtain the conviction of this killer, who was able to flout justice for a long time thanks to local complicity. The judicial authorities satisfied the family’s expectations, especially when they transferred the case from Pagadian to Cebu City in 2007 following serious death threats.” At least five journalists have been killed in Pagadian in the past 10 years and at least 165 journalists have been killed in the course of their work in the Philippines since 1986. Amoro, a journalist with local radio dxKP and the main witness in the murder of his friend and fellow journalist Edgar Damalerio, was gunned down on 2 February 2005 despite being under the justice ministry’s witness protection programme. Before being murdered, Amoro told Reporters Without Borders that, despite the threats, he was determined to testify at the trial of Damalerio’s alleged killer, police officer Guillermo Wapile. He was the second witness to be eliminated by accomplices of Wapile, who was given a life sentence for Damalerio’s murder the following November (http://www.rsf.org/Conviction-of-Edgar-Damalerio-s.html). One of Amoro’s daughters told Reporters Without Borders: “As for the guilty people behind the murders of my father and Edgar Damalerio, it is very difficult to have them brought to trial without increasing the dangers to our safety.” The entire family is guarded by officers of the witness protection programme. Maulana, who was convicted of shooting Amoro, was also ordered by the court to pay more than 195,000 pesos (about 3,000 euros) in damages. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility welcomed the verdict. In a statement, a member of the Amoro family said: “The fruit of all our labour and extraordinary sacrifice is evident where hope is close at hand. I do not just speak on behalf of my family but also on behalf of all the families of slain journalists in our country who cry for justice.” A local politician’s former bodyguard, Maulana was arrested in Pagadian, the capital of Zamboanga del Sur province. However, the police never seriously investigated claims that former Pagadian police chief Asuri Hawani was involved in the murders of both Amoro and Damalerio.