We stand in solidarity with our colleagues in Charlie Hebdo, 10 of whom died in the name of freedom of the press and of opinion. We join the call for justice and sobriety, and reiterate what many had said before: We are outraged, but we will not be cowed. The pen IS mightier than the sword, and we will continue to report the truth as we see it.
We reiterate, as well, our call for swift and decisive government action against the killers of media members in the Philippines. Last Jan. 8, another journalist was gunned down: Nerlita Ledesma, a correspondent for a Philippine tabloid, was shot dead near her house in Bataan, just south of Manila. She is the 31st media person to be killed under the Aquino presidency, according to the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines, and the 172nd since 1986, when the Marcos dictatorship fell.
Freedom of expression, of the press and of opinion are rights; no one should have to die for exercising rights guaranteed by the law.
—MANUEL P. MOGATO,
(for the Focap Board), president,
Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines