H. E. Gen. Fidel Ramos
President of the Philippines
Malacańang Palace
Metro Manila
The Philippines

Vienna, 3 June 1997

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors and media executives from newspapers, magazines, broadcasting organisations and news agencies in 98 countries, strongly condemns the killing of an editor of a popular Philippine tabloid.

We are informed that Danny Hernandez, the news editor of the daily People’s Journal Tonight and the author of a regular column called “Sunday Punch,” was shot dead in a taxi on Tuesday, 3 June 1997, as he struggled with his killer, who police said was probably a professional hit man. He left the Journal office just before dawn and took a taxi that was stolen hours earlier and apparently waiting for him, police said.

We understand that Mr. Hernandez, who specialized in exposing drug syndicates and police corruption, had been receiving death threats from what he suspected were drug traffickers. In his last column, which appeared on the morning he died, he wrote of alleged payoffs to police by crime syndicates.

Mr. Hernandez’s death is the latest in a string of murders of Philippine journalists. Last December, Roberto Berbon, and editor of one of the Philippine’s largest radio stations, DZMM, was shot dead by three gunmen outside his home south of Manila. The editor of the weekly Press Freedom, Ferdinand Reyes, was killed by an unidentified gunman in his office in the southern city of Dipolog in February 1996. Both journalists were known for exposing criminal activities and corruption.

IPI welcomes the decision of Your Excellency to order an immediate probe by the National Bureau of Investigation and the police into the killing of Mr. Hernandez, and urge that everything is done to ensure that those responsible for his this crime are brought to justice. We further urge that any findings with regard to his murder are disclosed.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director