Three men get life for murder of Filipino reporter

MANILA, Oct 6 (Reuters) A Philippine court today sentenced three men to life in prison for killing a newspaper columnist, a rare conviction in one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.

Marlene Esperat was watching television at her home in Sultan Kudarat province, on the southern island of Mindanao, when three men, believed to be hired guns, burst into her living room and shot her in front of her children in March 2005.

None of the three were known to have a personal motive to kill the reporter, but no one has been convicted of being the mastermind in the attack.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales however ordered state prosecutors to file a motion to reinstate two agriculture officials in Mindanao as suspects.

Esperat, a former bureaucrat who became a columnist for The Midland Review newspaper, had uncovered corruption in a government department in Mindanao, filing graft cases against the two officials.

At least 10 journalists have been killed in the southeast Asian country this year, according to the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP). Most of the murders were related to probes of graft, drugs and other illegal activities.

Despite cash rewards and government promises to stop the murders, only around three of more than 80 media killings have been solved by police in the past 20 years.

There has been a dramatic rise in the number of leftist activists, community organisers and reporters killed since the start of the year and Amnesty International said it was concerned members of the security forces could be involved.

Last month, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo created a commission to probe the murder and disappearance of hundreds of activists and reporters but US-based group Human Rights Watch said the probe had made little progress due to a climate of fear.

REUTERS SHB PM1505