Impunity rears its ugly head

PAGBABAGO

Just recently, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno and President Marcos, Jr.’s administration noted that they would like to see the Philippines as an upper-middle income country by 2028. That it would have a single-digit poverty incidence rate, a narrowing budget deficit, and lower public debt ratio which is close to pre-pandemic levels.

Laudable goals, but can we really hack it? Are these doable considering recent headlines that sound alarm bells over current acts of impunity.

In 2012, “Crimes and Unpunishment: The Killing of Filipino Journalists” published by UNESCO and the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication documented major crimes against Filipino journalisms since 1986. With a total of 125 killed by then, the country had the dubious distinction of becoming “the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists.” Six Filipino scholars analyzed the reasons for this seeming “