Nerlita Ledesma, a journalist for Filipino tabloid Abante, was gunned down and killed on January 8, 2015 while she was on her way to work. The attack took place one day after the attack on the French satirical magazine which was uncommon among French media, but sadly more routine in the Philippines. The International Federation of Journalists Asia pacific acting director Jane Worthington said:
"Nerlita Ledesma’s death is shocking and disturbing and marks a tragic beginning for the year for the country’s media. The IFJ offers its sympathies to her families and calls on the Philippine authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and bring those responsible to justice."
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 370 journalists have been murdered in the last 10 years. In 90% of the cases there have been no convictions.
In a country where its angle is a free media without official censorship, it is surprising to see journalism as such a dangerous line of work. Under President Benigno Aquino III, the Philippines seeks little justice towards the perpetrators of these killings. Powerful local officials, who are generally the ones who feel threatened by a free media, hire gunmen to murder these journalists. These gunmen are rarely convicted and the ones who order and pay the murders are never prosecuted.
The little risk of arrest or prosecution for killing journalists is a big issue for the Philippines. The government fails to take action to reduce these murders. Ledesma's death marks another deadly year among journalists for 2015.