LuisTeodoro.com

Filipinos have lived for so long with corruption that many think it impossible to eradicate. But the majority of Filipinos (60 percent), say the surveys, believe that a corruption-free government is possible.

Although not only governments can be guilty of it, corruption is usually associated with the government in the public mind, and it’s understandable why. Most Filipinos who have had to deal with government have not only seen and experienced corruption firsthand. Millions have also been victimized by government corruption in one way or another. »

Laoag broadcaster Roger Mariano was on his way home Saturday night when he was apparently ambushed. Mariano was killed in a hail of bullets from M-16 rifles. He was the first journalist to be killed in Ilocos Norte, apparently for doing his job as a journalist. But Mariano is now also the 46th Filipino journalist murdered in the Philippines since 1986.

Since that critical year—during which, ironically, the institutions of liberal democracy including a free press were restored in the Philippines in the aftermath of People Power 1—an average of three journalists have been killed each year. »