Harry Roque links COA report to Ortega murder

I did not have the privilege of knowing Dr Gerry Ortega but I join all those who condemn his murder Monday.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines has added Ortega’s name to the long list of journalists of have been killed in a country that prides itself as a democracy but at the same is one of the most dangerous working place for journalists.

Ortega was a veterinarian and environmentalist who was also a radio commentator. He was shot at close range while he was shopping in an ukay-ukay store. The gunman, Marlon Dicamata, has been apprehended.

Police has traced the gun used in the killing of Ortega to former Provincial Administrator Romeo Seratubias, who reports said claimed to have sold the gun to someone else.

The NUJP puts Ortega as the 142nd journalist to have been killed since 1986 when People Power ended the Marcos dictatorship that saw the stifling of press freedom and persecution of journalists. He was also the second journalist from Palawan to have been killed. In 2006 radio broadcaster Fernando “Dong” Batul was murdered.

Lawyer Harry Roque of Center for International Law, who has worked closely with Ortega and his advocacy group, Kilusan Love Malampaya, said he is “condemning in the strongest possible terms” the killing of the activist broadcaster.

While there are speculations that the killing of Ortega may have something to do with his opposition to the three ongoing mining projects in Palawan, Roque has another theory.He revealed that “Dr. Gerry was in constant contact with me concerning COA (Commission on Audit) reports which detail how Palawan’s local government officials have misused sums given to Palawan as part of the provisional sharing agreements. Dr Gerry was the one who furnished me with a copy of the COA reports that involved ghost projects, inferior projects and crass misappropriation of public funds.”

Roque further said, “While Dr. Gerry’s dedication to the preservation of the environment was in fact notable, police authorities should not discount the involvement of these local officials as masterminds in his murder.”
Roque zeroed in on those he suspects behind the murder:“ I together with many Palawenos believe that ultimately, it is these local elected officials of Palawan who may have the motive to silence Dr Gerry.”

Roque said he met Ortega six years ago because of the broadcaster’s involvement in a civil society group, Kilusan Love Malampaya (KLM) which advocates that the people of Palawan should have an “equitable share” in the wealth generated by the Malampaya natural gas and oil field and in the percentage identified by the Local Government Code which is 40% of all such income generated by Malampaya.

Roque said KLM’s initiative led to the filing of a case, which was finally the subject of oral arguments by the Supreme Court last year.

“On the basis of the court hearings, it is clear that the Malampaya issue is a three cornered fight: between civil society of Dr Gerry and Bishop Arigo who want to enforce the literal provisions of the constitution and the local government code, the local government that entered into an illegal provisional sharing agreement which Justice Antonio Carpio described as an amendment of the law, and the national government of Gloria Arroyo that sought to spend the Malampaya funds as its pork barrel funds.”

“It is unfortunate that Dr. Gerry did not live long to see the outcome of the case that he has lived for,” he said as he called on President Aquino to make sure that the killers of Ortega are unmasked and made to face justice “even if some of those who may want to see Dr. Gerry dead happen to be his party mates. “