Gabriela partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas attends a House committee meeting. Handout/file
MANILA — A partylist lawmaker believes slain journalist Percy Lapid was “silenced.”
Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas and members of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives have sought a congressional investigation into Lapid’s killing.
“We condemn in the strongest term the extra judicial killing of the veteran journalist Percival Mabasa. In fact nag-file po kami ng House Resolution 468 para paimbestigahan ito pong nangyari na ito... We believe he was silenced due to his advocacy for truth,” Brosas said in a forum in Quezon City on Friday.
The Makabayan bloc also urged the Marcos administration to "take concrete steps to stop media killings and such other attacks against free speech and press freedom.”
HR 468 said Lapid is the second journalist killed since President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. took office on June 30.
Rey Blanco, also a radio broadcaster, was stabbed dead on September 18 in Mabinay, Negros Oriental.
“The Marcos administration must lose no time to hale to court not just the perpetrators who held the gun but, more importantly, the masterminds, and make them answer under the law,” the resolution read.