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Group of Philippine journalists plan to arm themselves for self-protection
MANILA, May 26 (AFP) - In the wake of a series of deadly attacks on Philippine journalists, a group of reporters and broadcasters said Thursday they will help journalists get firearms and learn how to use them.
The newly-formed Association of Responsible Media for Truth (ARMED) will help journalists get shooting licenses, gun permits and training from sports shooting clubs and the military, said ARMED spokesman Raul Esperas.
The move follows a rash of attacks that has left five journalists dead this year and killed 13 last year, helping earn the Philippines a reputation as one of the most world's dangerous places for journalists.
The chairwoman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Inday Espina-Varona, said the union did not support the idea of journalists arming themselves.
"But having said that, we understand fully the position journalists in this country now find themselves in," she told AFP. "The fact that journalists are arming themselves is an act of desperation as the government has failed in its responsibility to protect journalists.
"The fact that some journalists are carrying guns will not stop the assassins. The people who want journalists killed have plenty of money."
Esperas agreed in principle but not in practice, saying: "We believe that arming media is not the solution, but we need to be prepared in situations if we are attacked."
Having more reporters carry guns would be a deterrent and could "lessen the statistics of media-men being killed," he said.
The group, which is still in the process of organising itself, cites the case of Pablo Hernandez, a Manila tabloid columnist who earlier this month drove off two armed men by firing his gun.
About 250 journalists in Manila took part in a recent shooting competition, and most of them, as well as others, would be eager to join the new association, Esperas said.
