The family of slain Filipino journalist and environmental advocate Gerry Ortega, along with media and rights organizations, has welcomed the arrest of former Palawan Governor Mario Joel Reyes, the primary suspect in the 2011 murder of Ortega.
Reyes, 72, who is accused of masterminding Ortega’s killing, voluntarily surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on September 11 in Manila. He is currently undergoing treatment for a medical condition at a hospital in Quezon City.
Ortega, 47, was an outspoken critic of Reyes, particularly over his alleged involvement in mining and corruption in Palawan. Reyes was indicted for the murder in 2012 but fled the country before he could be arrested. He was captured in Thailand in 2015 along with his brother, Joel Reyes, and was later extradited to the Philippines.
In July 2023, the Philippine Supreme Court ordered a regional trial court to re-arrest Reyes, who had evaded justice for over a year after the warrant was issued. He resurfaced only when it suited him, according to the Ortega family.
While the family remains cautiously optimistic, it is calling for a swift and fair trial. “We are yet to see the justice that the overwhelming evidence against the former governor demands,” they said in a statement on September 12. They urged the government to ensure fairness, warning that failure to do so would embolden those in power to silence voices like Gerry Ortega’s.
Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde expressed hope that Reyes’s surrender would bring closure to the case, but emphasized that the fight for justice is not over. “Reyes is a very powerful politician, so it’s crucial to ensure that due process takes its course,” he told UCA News.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines stressed that while Reyes’s custody is a first step, the public and media community must remain vigilant to hold him accountable for Ortega’s murder. International Federation of Journalists, based in Belgium, called justice for Ortega “long overdue,” highlighting the Philippines’ troubling history of impunity for journalist killings.
UNESCO’s February 2024 report revealed that 117 journalists have been killed in the Philippines over the past three decades, with 81 cases remaining unsolved. The Presidential Task Force on Media Security, established in 2016 under former president Duterte, has committed to pursuing old cases, including that of Gerry Ortega.