PEC condemns murder of Filipino female radio journalist
Geneva: Expressing serious concern over the recent murder of Filipino radio journalist Maria Vilma Rodriguez, the global media safety and rights body Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) demands a thorough probe into the incident to book the culprits under the law of the Philippines. According to Radioinfo Asia, based in Sydney, Australia, the female journalist was shot dead by unknown assailants near her residence in Zamboanga city of the island nation on 22 October 2024. Maria (56), used to present 105.9 Emedia FM’s news program Barangay Action Center, reported the website that is dedicated for the latest Asian and international Radio industry news and features.
“PEC condemns the murder of Maria Vilma Rodriguez with strongest words. She becomes the 112nd journo-victims across the world till date this year. We urge Zamboanga city’s chief police officer in particular and President Marcos Jr to investigate the motive of perpetrators to punish them. The government in Manila must take prompt actions against the criminals and ensure the safety of Filipino journalists and other media employees,” said Blaise Lempen, president of PEC (https://www.pressemblem.ch/casualties).
PEC’s south & southeast Asia representative Nava Thakuria informed that Maria is the first journalist to be killed in the island nation since 1 January this year. On the other hand, she becomes the fifth victim among media workers since the new President took charge of the Philippines in June 2022. Another southeast nation Indonesia lost Sempurna Pasaribu (Tribrata TV, Sumatra) on 27 June and Myanmar witnessed the killing of Ko Myat Thu Tun (DVB, Mrauk-U, 31 January), Htet Myat Thu (Voice of Thanbyuzayat, Mon State, 21 August) and Win Htut Oo (DVB, Mon State, 21 August) in the last ten months.
PPFA demands a careful reverification of NRC draft before endorsement
Guwahati: As various organizations and civil society groups of Assam are demanding the final draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) to be endorsed by the Registrar General of India (RGI), a forum of nationalist citizens insisted on a thorough (100%) reverification of NRC Assam draft before finalizing the supplementary list that was published on 31 August 2019. In a media statement, the Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA) also demanded a fair probe into the findings of Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG), which detected a financial irregularities of over Rs 260 crore in the NRC updation process in Assam under ‘monitoring’ of the Supreme Court of India.
One can observe that soon after the apex court’s verdict upholding the constitutional validity of Clause 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (which endorsed the cut-off date for granting Indian citizenship in Assam at 25 March 1971), many organizations and civil society group started demanding the finalization of Assam NRC. A recent statement by an anti-CAA forum claimed that the final NRC draft was submitted to the RGI five years back and its finalization is still delayed. But it may be noteworthy that the Supreme Court on a direction on 13 August 2019 advocated for an appropriate security arrangement to NRC data before submitting it to both the governments in New Delhi and Dispur as well as the RGI, which is yet to be materialised.
“Even after realization of the said security system, the RGI needs look into the serious allegations (raised by former NRC State coordinator Hitesh Devsarma) about the inclusion of hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants (read East Pakistani/Bangladeshi nationals) in the draft with the help of tampered software, allegedly orchestrated by the first NRC State coordinator Prateek Hajela, before endorsing it,” said the PPFA statement, adding that the findings of CAG cannot be overlooked and all concerned individuals including a few Guwahati-based television journalists, who lobbied for accepting the NRC draft without any verification (probably in return of personal benefits), should be made accountable under the law.
