Quote: LAOAG, Philippines (Washington Post Online/Pacific Media Watch): Roger Mariano's final minutes on the air were true to his reputation as the premier radio crusader in the northernmost Philippines.

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Asia-Pacific Network
del...@clear.net.nz
Pacific Media Watch
paci...@lists.c2o.org
September 13, 2004
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Title -- 4509 PHILIPPINES: A 'culture of impunity' protects journalists'
killers
Date -- 13 September 2004
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- The Washington Post, via med...@web.net 12/9/2004
Copyright -- WP
Status -- Unabridged

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A CULTURE OF IMPUNITY' PROTECTS JOURNALISTS' KILLERS IN PHILIPPINES

Full story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A14634-2004Sep11?language=print...
or http://tinyurl.com/67hpt
or http://www.pmw.c2o.org plus picture

By Alan Sipress
Washington Post Foreign Service

LAOAG, Philippines (Washington Post Online/Pacific Media Watch): Roger Mariano's final minutes on the air were true to his reputation as the premier radio crusader in the northernmost Philippines.

He was especially animated about alleged graft at the local electric utility. And when he finished his nightly show on Saturday, July 31, he confided to a colleague that he had uncovered records proving corruption.

"It will be a big bomb for my Monday show," Mariano said, according to an account by the station manager.

Then he slung a bag with the document over his shoulder, his colleagues recalled, and got on his motorcycle for the 10-mile drive home. An hour later, his body was found along a dark stretch of a rural road, shot about 10 times in the back and several times more in the head.

+++niuswire

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