This is a list of journalists killed in the Philippines, sorted by date of death.

Definitions The term "media killing" has various definitions: The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) considers all media killings as work-related unless there is proof otherwise. The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) defines media killings as "the murder of journalists and media workers," encompassing anyone who works regularly in certain media and its aspects regardless of work quality or status, with clarification on categorizing as work-related the cases of targeted killings due to their reports. The case is classified as "in the line of duty" regardless of reported abuses in the practice being provoked the killing. Meanwhile, while CMFR acknowledges a case that may be not work-related, it finds no evidence to indicate such motives until it is verified, delisting the case. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) records journalist killings if there are reasonable grounds to believe these are work-related. For Task Force Usig, a journalist's murder must be "work-related" to be considered a media killing. The Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS) focuses on the case depending on the definition of "media members" or those considered as workers, which excludes guests invited by media entities; initially presumes all reported killings of such personnel as work-related and takes initiative in the investigation as a matter of protocol.

In the case of the 32 journalists slain in Maguindanao in 2009, they are reported to have been killed in the line of duty, as recorded by both CMFR and NUJP. This contradicts the claims made by TF Usig, which considers the incident to be election-related. The journalists were not the intended targets of the killers and are categorized as "collateral damage." Additionally, media activists have expressed concerns about the task force's counts since 2001, as they have documented only a small percentage compared to the tallies from CMFR and NUJP.

Background

Statistics Journalism-related indices Despite the Philippines having one of the most liberal media environments in Asian countries, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said that it is the deadliest for journalists in the Asia–Pacific. Violence against journalists continued even with the establishment of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) in 2016. In its press freedom index for 2022, the country ranks 147th out of the 180 countries evaluated by RSF.

The 2009 Maguindanao massacre caused the country to be ranked 156th by RSF in 2010, 3rd in the Global Impunity Index (GII) from then until 2014, which was the country's worst ranking, and also lead to the country being listed as the world's deadliest for journalists in that year by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The country had been on its list of the twenty deadliest from 2007 until being excluded in 2015. In 2018, the country was given a special citation as one of those with an improved ranking. Likewise, the country was reported by the RSF as one of the five deadliest countries for journalists in the world from the mid-2010s until being delisted in 2018. One of the causes is the PTFoMS' immediate action on various cases of killings and threats against the press.

The country, along with five others, has been in the GII since its launch by CPJ in 2008. The index measures deliberate, work-related killings of journalists, beginning from ten years prior. In the 2023 list, the country ranks 8th in terms of impunity in the killings, moving down from 7th in 2019–2022, and 4th in 2015.

Tallies Based on the data by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), 199 media workers have been killed since 1986; all deaths included were in relation to their job. The highest number was under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with 103, including 32 of those murdered in Maguindanao in what was called the world's worst single attack on journalists, which made the year 2009 the deadliest for them.Article updated until November 2023.

Other groups also report similarly high numbers. Data from the CPJ shows 159 killed since 1992; UNESCO reported 117 since 1996, with the majority of them having the state's publicized responses to Director General's request for information on judicial follow-up. Both include the most recent killing, the death of Juan Jumalon in November 2023.

Prior to Jumalon's death, PTFoMS reported that there were 142 work-related killings, also since 1986.

RSF, on the other hand, has an estimate of directly work-related killings that is a little less than the estimate of the NUJP.

+Journalists and media workers killed Presidency Number NUJP CMFR, PCIJ Bulatlat Marcos Sr. n/a n/a 32 C. Aquino 17 21 34 Ramos 15 11 19 Estrada 5 6 5 Arroyo 103 80 14 B. Aquino III 32 31 — Duterte 23 — — Marcos Jr. 4 — —

Most deaths, according to NUJP and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), were radio personalities, especially blocktime commentators, many affiliated to local politicians as suggested by a research from CPJ, and as reported by PCIJ, had minimal awareness of journalistic ethics or libel laws. Most incidents occurred in Mindanao, according to PTFoMS.

Various data show similarities seen in most of the killings. Incidents usually occurred in the provinces, wherein victims working there as journalists exposed wrongdoings in their locality and were critical about these issues. For instance, a CPJ's database shows that among those journalists killed in 1992–July 2021, it was found that 94% were based in the provinces; a third of them had received prior threats. On the other hand, suspects, unknown and presumably hired killers, were hardly caught; very often they are motorcycle-riding assailants.

Both CMFR and the Philippine National Police reported in 2005 that of the journalists slain in the line or duty, seven were killed in crossfire: five during encounter with or being killed by the New People's Army (including two in an ambush in 1986), and two during a coup attempt in 1989 perpetrated by RAM–SFP–YOU.

The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) has recorded, by April 2015, ten of those "killed in the line of duty since 1986" are women, four of them in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre case. Excluding more than a hundred arrested in connection with the 2009 murders, four alleged gunmen in two of the six cases were arrested; one of them has been released.

Data shows that few cases of media killings since the 1986 People Power Revolution have had developments. Combined data from CMFR (Nov. 2014) and PTFoMS (Jan. 2020) show that at least 53 of the cases resulted in convictions; the CMFR also reported, by Apr. 2016, six acquittals. Meanwhile, CMFR recorded that, by 2011, 54% of the monitored cases were considered "cold or dead," where police have been unable to identify and arrest any suspect. Furthermore, both PCIJ (in a February 2015 report) and CMFR stated that none of the masterminds have been prosecuted and convicted. The CPJ shows in its database that assailants in 97% of the recorded killings (1992–July 2021) have not yet been punished; local government officials were suspected as the masterminds in more than half of the cases.

PTFoMS, created through Administrative Order No. 1 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte in October 2016, has been acting on the later cases; also, it has been gathering all data from various sources to map prior cases in the country and to exercise investigative powers on them; the results (shown at the table) until the 2019 verdict on the Ampatuan massacre case are recorded.

+Cases recorded by PTFoMS Description No. Killing (180) Work-related (22) Under investigation Ongoing trial Not-work related Closed cases (102) Reached conviction Deemed prescribed and with unavailable records Suspects died Victim's family is no longer interested to file a complaint or pursue the case Reached acquittal Dismissed Not killing (64) Threats Survivors of physical attacks with the intention to kill Cases involving journalists and media workers

For those cases prior to 1986, various sources document such. According to the National Press Club (NPC), about 35 journalists were killed during the Marcos administration. NPC, as well as the military and a journalists' group in Manila, both reported more cases from mid-1984 to mid-1985, more than twice than the previous decade. Either military personnel or paramilitary units were the perpetrators in several cases. Few of these were said to be solved, few suspects were arrested, and at least a conviction was reported.

In 2006, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo created Task Force Usig in response to the rising number of murders of journalists and activists. While the supervisory body reportedly accomplished police reform and increased coordination, among other accomplishments, it was criticized by media activists for failure to provide necessary logistics. Additionally, it was deemed ineffective as it operated from Camp Crame and relied on local police investigators vulnerable to political pressure.

Pre-1980s Antonio Abad Tormis, Republic News editor and columnist, was shot on July 3, 1961, in front of the Masonic Temple building in Cebu City. Felipe Pareja, city treasurer at that time, had been the subject of Tormis' commentaries on graft. Pareja, the mastermind, and the gunman, Cesario Orongan, were convicted and imprisoned. This is the only such case in Cebu considered work-related. Ermin Garcia Sr., editor of the Dagupan Sunday Punch newspaper, was shot dead in his office by two hitmen in Dagupan, Pangasinan on 20 May 1966. The next edition of the Sunday Punch revealed that Garcia was working on exposing the illegal practices of some local politicians at the time, and that the killing was most likely related. (Originally published as an article for the Diario Uno newspaper in 1998.)E. Arsenio Manuel, Dictionary of Philippine Biography, Volume Three, Filipiniana Publications, Quezon City (1986) Celso Tan, DYRL commentator, was shot dead in May 1967 in his home in Bacolod. He had been exposing in his program a criminal syndicate, which was later believed to be behind the killing. This is the first such killing in the city and in Negros Occidental.

1980s

Pre-1986 Demosthenes "Demy" Dingcong, Lanao provincial correspondent of Bulletin Today, was shot by an unidentified gunman in his house in Iligan, Lanao del Norte on December 5, 1980. He had written exposés about anomalies in the local government activities, including that on the missing fund intended for the students of Mindanao State University; also on military abuses, and the situation of the political prisoners in the province. He had already received threats from local officials. Geoffrey Siao, radio commentator and writer of the Philippine Post in Iligan, was murdered on March 2, 1984. Florante "Boy" de Castro, lawyer and news commentator worked at DXCP, who had reported suspicious local government activities in South Cotabato, was gunned down on March 9, 1984, inside his house in General Santos. Vicente (Vic) Villordon, DYLA anchor, a critic of both the Marcos government and the communist movement, was shot by two gunmen on December 28, 1984, outside the station in Cebu City. The case has been unsolved. In a 2006 report by The Philippine Star, a former communist rebel claimed Villordon and Leo Enriquez III (killed in 1987), his former colleagues in the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People's Army (CPP–NPA), were killed by their comrades. Charles (or Charlie) Aberilla, DXWG (Iligan) commentator, on April 29, 1985, was killed by three armed men who had entered the announcer's booth while on-air. Nabokodonosor "Nabing" Velez, 47, DYLA anchor-commentator in Cebu, was attacked by six gunmen on June 1, 1985, while watching a beauty contest. Case is unsolved.