210 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy, Second Edition In addition to over a thousand political activists killed (Karapatan, www.karapatan.org), a record 79 journalists and media workers were also slain in the nine years of the Arroyo watch, including 32 in the Ampatuan Massacre of 2009. The end of Arroyo's term and the beginning of the administration of President Benigno Aquino III in July 2010, did not end the killing of political activists or journalists. Radio broadcaster Miguel Belen was shot by an assailant riding tandem on a motorcycle on July 19. Belen survived the attack, but died on July 31. At least two attempts to kill journalists have since occurred, while others have been threatened by local executives. The record number of political activists and journalists killed during the nine years when Mrs. Arroyo was in power has been explained as a consequence of both government policy (the killing of activists was part of the anti-insurgency policy) as well as indifference. But in the case of journalists the killings also occurred in the context of the Arroyo government's anti-press and anti-media initiatives, which included the ling of numerous libel suits, threats to withdraw network franchises and to le charges of inciting to sedition against some media organizations, and the inclusion of journalists' groups in the military's dreaded Orders of Battle, which in effect authorize the neutralization of the members of the groups listed. The Aquino III administration, during which 31 journalists have been killed for their work, has done little to address the killings, and has even minimized them, claiming that the numbers are less than what media groups claim, and that some of those killed were either “not journalists” or were killed for other reasons. Given government's lack of enthusiasm in identifying, arresting and prosecuting the killers of journalists, media advocacy and journalists' groups have seized the initiative not only in prosecuting the killers, but also in media defense. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and other media advocacy groups have been offering safety and security training since 2003. In addition, these groups have also intensied their training programs in ethical compliance and professional behavior. They have engaged the police and the department of justice in prosecuting the killers of journalists, and have even provided the survivors of slain journalists educational, health and livelihood support. The campaign against the culture of impunity that has encouraged the continuing killing of journalists and media workers is today a key element of the advocacies of a number of journalist and media advocacy groups committed to self- regulation and which have opposed attempts at government and other forms of external regulation. Given the Constitutional guarantee of press freedom, self-regulation is the preferred norm in the Philippine press. There is a Philippine Journalists Code of Ethics for voluntary compliance, as well as a Broadcast Code recently revised and reissued by KBP. At least one Manila broadsheet has a readers' advocate position in its payroll. There are a number of media advocacy groups engaged