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A Supreme Court decision to allow a change of venue in the
trial of three suspects accused of murdering journalist Dennis
Cuesta, at left, in August
2008 sets a hopeful precedent in the fight against impunity in media
killings in the
The change of venue petition from
CPJ research shows that provincial-level courts are often prone to political influence in media killing cases that allegedly involve government officials, including wayward police officers who are all too frequently implicated in such murders. Cuesta's widow, Gloria, expressed her doubts to CPJ in early July that she could receive a fair trial in her husband's murder because of the powerful local interests she was up against.
Acharon's defense attorney, Rogelio Garcia, has resorted to
various legal tactics to attenuate the early legal proceedings, including a
successful petition in February to have the case reassigned from one
Garcia told CPJ by telephone in early August that he planned
to appeal to a higher court the new arrest warrant issued in April because the
branch court that received the case hadn't independently established Acharon had
"probable cause" to murder Cuesta but rather relied on the previous court's
legal assessment. Such local-level stalling tactics are commonplace
in the distressingly high number of unsolved journalist murder cases in the
Journalists, public prosecutors and press freedom advocates
who spoke with CPJ during a fact-finding mission in July all lamented that
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The murder case of Dennis Cuesta remain untouched at the court until this month of October 2009, the suspected murderer Police Inspector Redempto "Boy" Acharon remained at large and no one can say if justice can still be attained anymore. Her widow Gloria can no longer handle the expense in supporting the children left behind by her murdered husband. Thus she can be vulnerable to outside the court settlement in exchange for monitory consideration offered by the accused to withdraw her interest on case that will eventually set the accused free from murder charges.
By EMMANUEL CAUSING OF THE ALLIANCE OF FILIPINO JOURNALIST (A.F.I.M.A) Alyansa ng Filipinong Mamamahayag Davao del Sur, Phil.