MANILA — It's been 11 years since environmental journalist Gerry Ortega was assassinated, but justice has yet to be served for him and his grieving family.

The alleged mastermind in Ortega's killing, former Palawan governor Joel Reyes, remains in hiding, officials of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said.

"Eleven years after, justice for Gerry Ortega remains elusive and the against impunity is as difficult," NUJP vice-chairperson Kath Cortez said on Monday.

The Safe World for the Truth initiative that conducted an investigation on Ortega's killing pointed out the lapses government had supposedly committed to bringing justice to the slain journalist.

Jos Bartman, researcher coordinator of the initiative, said the Department of Justice's failure to put Reyes behind bars despite the victim camp's success in gathering the ex-governor's text messages to Ortega's reported hitman, who was solely charged in court.

"The justice system in the Philippines really failed to provide justice in the case of Gerry Ortega, while it had the opportunity to provide justice," Bartman said.

He said the DOJ's first panel of investigators did not accept their gathered evidence, as well as in probing the reported conspiracy between Reyes and hitman Rodolfo Edra, who later on confessed his guilt.

The findings submitted by the second panel of investigators formed by then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima was denied by the Court of Appeals.

"By the nullification (of the findings), they were able to delay the case again... justice delayed is justice denied," Bartman said.

"We found that Joel Reyes continues to built influence over a local public officials in Palawan. And they were able to subvert the rule of law in his favor," he added.

Reyes only served a short jail sentence for a graft case and was released years after, but not on the Ortega case.

"Despite a fresh arrest warrant, he has never been arrested in the meantime. Bizzarely, actually, Joel Reyes meantime filed his certificate of candidacy for the position of governor for the upcoming elections," Bartman said.

"For that, it can only mean one thing: he still exerts influence over local officials in Palawan," he added.

Edra was said to have been also harassed to withdraw his earlier testimony. He is in hiding.

Years after Ortega's killing, attacks against journalists continue, the NUJP noted. Cortez said some of these attacks are "perpetrated by politicians and their supporters."

Reporters Without Borders Asia Pacific director Daniel Bastard said that the journalists' situation in the Philippines is actually the "trend" in Southeast Asia.

The region is "violent" in respect to media work and development of self-censorship, according to Bastard. Such attitude by many, he explained, was basically due to the danger that journalists face today.

"Apparently, this two trends are intertwined because self-censorship has to deal with the fact that violence against journalists is unpunished," Bastard said.

"The keyword between these two terms is impunity."

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