On 24 March 2005, Marlene Garcia-Esperat, a whistleblower-turned-journalist who exposed corruption in the government's Department of Agriculture, was gunned down in her home in full view of her children in Tacurong City, in southern Philippines. Her case was once heralded by IFEX members as the first time since 1986 that the people ultimately responsible for the murder of a journalist were identified. Now it has become symbolic of the struggle against impunity: the masterminds have continued to elude justice.
Four years to the day that Esperat was killed, media advocates from the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) converged in Manila on a mission to challenge President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's administration about the killing of journalists.
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Afghanistan
