Journalist Marlene Esperat was just 45 when she died, killed by a single bullet to the forehead by a gunman who casually walked into her home and shot her in front of her children.
While Esperat’s killer and his accomplices have been tried and sentenced, the masterminds behind the murder, two high level officials in the Philippine government’s Department of Agriculture, have yet to be brought to justice.
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), a reporters’ rights watchdog group based in Toronto, has written to the Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines calling for an independent trial for Osmeña Montañer and Estrella Sabay.
“CJFE is extremely concerned by statistics that show that none of those who ordered the murders of 76 journalists since 1986 in the Philippines have been successfully prosecuted. We urge your government to ensure an independent trial to see that justice is finally done in this case,” wrote Arnold Amber, president of CJFE.
Esperat was dubbed the “Erin Brockovitch of the Philippines” by the Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), not only because she tirelessly exposed numerous cases of graft and corrupt practices by government officials but for her daring attire of mini-skirts, stiletto heels and tight dresses with low-cut necklines.
“I want to look pretty when the assassins come to get me,” she once joked, under no illusions about what could happen to her in a country that has a reputation in of being one of the most dangerous in the world for journalists.
The case, notable in that it’s the first since 1986 in which both the hired killers and those ultimately responsible have been charged, has made big news in the Philippines since the brazen murder took place in 2005.
CJFE manager Julie Payne told The Epoch Times that for too long, both the assassins of journalists and those who hired them seem to have had impunity in the Philippines.
“It was to the point where it was almost batting 1000, no one was being brought to justice. That’s just starting to change, and that’s why it’s so exciting to see a case like this where not only the killers have been tried and sentenced but also the people who are behind it will hopefully be arrested soon too.”
Montañer and Sabay were formally charged on Oct 1 with masterminding Esperat’s murder. However, they both fled and are still on the loose.
Esperat, who worked as a chemist in the Department of Agriculture before writing a column entitled Madam Witness for a local newspaper, became a whistleblower after discovering that money that was intended to help poor farmers was instead being siphoned off to enrich bureaucrats and politicians.
Driven by a “righteous rage” according to PCIJ, over 10 years Esperat filed dozens of cases ranging from the smuggling of agricultural products to the overpricing of farm inputs and the diversion of funds intended for farmers to private pockets or political uses. Some of these cases implicated top officials in the Philippine government.
“Marlene knew she was stepping on the toes of powerful people, but she often told us she had the support of well-meaning and honest employees who wanted to clean up the department. She also knew that being a whistleblower in this country was a thankless and dangerous job and was well aware that killers were hot on her trail,” PCIJ wrote in an obituary.
In 2002, the anti-graft crusader was the victim of an attempted abduction. The following year a grenade was thrown at her home. She spent two years in a witness protection program after a government office she had been investigating was torched. Esperat’s first husband Severino Arcones, a radio commentator, was gunned down in 1989.
At the time of her death, Esperat was a frequent visitor at the Office of the Ombudsman, where she hounded employees and told them they were dragging their feet in investigating the cases she had filed.
Payne says CJFE helped pay the legal fees for the trial of Esperat’s killers in 2006.
“We run a small ‘journalists in distress fund,’ and if we can use these funds to help make sure the legal case goes ahead and the killers are brought to justice then that’s money well spent.”
CJFE was also involved in a case in which a policeman was convicted of the drive-by shooting of journalist Edgar Damaleiro in 2002. The key witness to the murder was himself assassinated later, even though he was in hiding because he feared for his life.
“You can see how difficult it is to actually bring cases like this to trial,” says Payne. “The victims just keep piling up.”
Ten journalists were killed in 2005 in the Philippines, the year Esperat was shot. The conviction of Esperat’s killers is only the second successful conviction among the 28 cases of journalists slain in the line of duty since President Gloria Arroyo took power in January 2001, according to the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists.
