Journalists protest in Manila

Broadcast journalist Fernando Batul was marked for death weeks before he died in a hail of gunfire on his way to work at the dyPR radio station in Puerto Princesa City, the usually sleepy capital of Palawan island in the western Philippines.

The 37-year-old was famous for his uncompromising broadcasts exposing corruption in the city.

Batul became the latest victim in a sharply rising body count of murdered journalists in the Philippines - the 42nd over the past five years, according to the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP).

That has made the Philippines the second most deadly place on earth for journalists after Iraq, beating Colombia and Russia, whose criminal gangs have fearsome reputations for killing journalists who cross them.

Colleagues at dyPR say Batul regularly aired hard-hitting investigations into local government officials and the military on his show.

“He attacked many people with the truth,” says dyPR announcer Joel Contrivida, adding that only a few weeks ago two grenades were thrown at Batul's house, although they did not explode.

The Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) puts the number of journalists who have died in work-related killings over the past decade at 59. The NUJP counts 79 dead since 1986.

Either way, nearly half of the slayings have happened during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who came to power in 2001. The past two years have exacted a particularly bloody toll: 13 in 2004 and 10 last year, according to the NUJP. Batul was the sixth journalist to be murdered so far this year.

NUJP spokesman Jose Torres blames a “culture of impunity” in the Philippines that enables the powerful to get away with murder.

“The killers are all influential people: politicians, illegal loggers and drug lords - and they all know that hardly any cases get solved by the police,” he said.

For its part, the government strongly rejects criticism that it is turning a blind eye to murder.

“We uphold the rule of law, and criminal justice will eventually catch up with killers of whatever bent or stripe,” said presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye.

Two years ago, the Philippine National Police set up the Task Force Newsman unit to more vigorously pursue investigations into murders of journalists. But there have only been two successful convictions over the past decade, according to the CMFR.

Most cases collapse because of lack of evidence or difficulty in finding witnesses willing to testify.

In one of the rare convictions, a policeman was sentenced to life in prison last November for killing newspaper editor Edgar Damalerio in the southern port city of Zamboanga. That is believed to have been the first successful prosecution in six years.

With the killings attracting the scrutiny of organizations as diverse as the US State Department and Amnesty International, as well as an outcry in the local media, some journalists believe the government is rousing itself on the issue.

“The pressure is getting to them but we must keep banging on the door,” said CMFR's deputy director Rachel Khan.