Marlene Garcia Esperat (August 29, 1959 – March 24, 2005, in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat,

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

) was a Filipina

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

and investigative journalist who wrote a weekly anti- graft column for local newspapers. As a result of her anti-corruption work, she was

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

ed in her own home.

Biography

Garcia-Esperat's career in journalism began accidentally: in the early 1990s, she was an analytical chemist for the Department of Agriculture, when she discovered that her laboratory was not receiving the funding it had been allocated. Inspired by the example of her first husband, Severino Arcones, a journalist who was murdered in 1989, Garcia-Esperat began her public activities. She also spent two years in the witness protection program due to her ombudsman discoveries. Her case is significant, as it is the first of the 56 murders of Filipino journalists since 1986 for which the people ultimately responsible were identified, in addition to the people directly involved. Esperat, as former employee of the Department of Agriculture in

Central Mindanao Soccsksargen (officially stylized in all caps; ), formerly known as Central Mindanao, is an administrative region of the Philippines, designated as Region XII. Located in south-central Mindanao, its name is an acronym that stands for the region ...

(DA-12) and Midland Review, Tacurong City columnist, exposed the alleged Jocelyn "Jocjoc" Bolante fertilizer funds scam, in which President

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (, born April 5, 1947), often referred to by her initials GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician serving as one of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, House Deputy Spe ...

was implicated. Two weeks after the killing, Randy Grecia (one of the lookouts) surrendered to police, and subsequently pleaded guilty. Grecia and his three accomplices (Estanislao Bismanos and Gerry Cabayag, who likewise pleaded guilty, and Rowie Barua, who has become a State Witness) have testified that they were hired by two officials in the Philippines Department of Agriculture of

. Murder charges were filed, but later dismissed. The Esperat family lawyer, Nena Santos, told the Manila Standard that the dismissal of charges was "highly questionable and suspicious," and that it was a "miscarriage of justice." The case was re-filed. The Cebu court convicted and meted out life imprisonment to Randy Garcia, Gerry Cabayag and Estanislao Bismanos who admitted they were hired for P120,000 to kill Esperat.February 12 2008
Since then, the Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered the reopening of the investigation against alleged masterminds Montaner and Sabay, respectively, of the Department of Agriculture (DA) who were earlier excluded from the killing of Esperat by the Regional Trial Court in Tacurong City. Esperat's sister, Valmie Garcia Mariveles, who re-filed the charges against Montañer and Sabay, gathered more evidence. Accordingly, on September 28, 2008,

Cebu City Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Sugbo; fil, Lungsod ng Cebu; hil, Dakbanwa sang Sugbo), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas Regions of the P ...

RTC Branch 7 Judge Simeon Dumdum approved the withdrawal of charges at the Cebu City Court for filing of murder case, instead against the alleged 2 masterminds before the Tacurong City RTC. Also, on October 20, 2008, the Department of Justice (Philippines) refiled the

charges, in Tacurong City against Osmeña Montañer and Estrella Sabay, DA-12 finance officer and accountant, respectively, as masterminds. Meanwhile, the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journa ...

welcomed the issuance of

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a j ...

s by Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat Regional Trial Court Judge Melanio S. Guerrero of Branch 20 against the 2 accused, amid the case hearing on October 27, 2008. Tacurong RTC Judge Melanio Guerrero ordered the 2 accused to file a response within 10 days. The 2 DA officials, however, filed a

motion to dismiss In United States law, a motion is a procedural device to bring a limited, contested issue before a court for decision. It is a request to the judge (or judges) to make a decision about the case. Motions may be made at any point in administrativ ...

or to quash the case.sunstar.com.ph, Court hands arrest warrants to journalist's slay suspects

References

External links

Entry on Marlene Garcia-Esperat
(

Reporters sans Frontières Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

)
Obituary for Marlene Garcia-Esperat at the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
at the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility
Documentary on the life and death of Marlene Esperat
on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

's '' The Current'' (in

RealAudio RealAudio, or also spelled as Real Audio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fid ...

format)
Press Freedom Groups Condemn Esperat's Murder
(

International Freedom of Expression Exchange IFEX, formerly International Freedom of Expression Exchange, is a global network of 124 independent non-governmental organisations that work at a local, national, regional, or international level to defend and promote freedom of expression as a ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia-Esperat, Marlene 1959 births 2005 deaths People from Sultan Kudarat Assassinated Filipino journalists Deaths by firearm in the Philippines Filipino whistleblowers 20th-century journalists

Biography

See also

References

External links