Truth Telling and other Perils in “Democratic” Philippines 209 ranked 86th in press freedom compliance during the preceding year among 130 countries. The year ended with a record seven journalists killed in the line of duty, which was more than the six assassinated in connection with their work in 2002 and in 1987, which had been the Philippine media's most fatal year after the martial law period, but does not include seven others whose killing did not seem to be work related. The number of slain journalists in 2003 was horric in comparison to other ASEAN countries. In 2003, one journalist had been killed in the conict-ridden Indonesian province of Aceh, and one journalist in Cambodia (Luwarso 2004: 710, 11-13). The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists had described the Philippines in 1990 as “The most dangerous place in the world for journalists,” downgrading that description to “One of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists” in 2001 because more journalists had been killed in Afghanistan that year (Committee to Protect Journalists 2002). Because very few since 1986 have been prosecuted for the killings, among other reasons because of the weakness of the justice system at the local level and the probability of police and military collusion with local politicians, it has also instilled fear among journalists practicing in the rural communities where most of the killings have taken place (Neumann 2003). The safety of journalists and media workers in the Philippines has thus been at issue in the Philippines since the restoration of the institutions and fundamentals of liberal democracy, including free expression and press freedom, in 1986. But it took another 18 years before the safety of journalists and media workers became a central concern for both the national and community media community, although in 1990, a year after it was founded, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility had already begun keeping a database on the killings because of their corrosive impact on press freedom and on the democratization process. The dismantling of the Marcos government and Corazon Aquino's assuming the Presidency in 1986 was followed within two months by the killing of Reuters correspondent Willy Vicoy. By the end of Aquino's term in 1992, 21 journalists had been killed in the line of duty during the six years that she was President. The killings continued during the term (1992-1998) of Aquino's successor Fidel V. Ramos, although the number was less than previously, at 11 for the six year period. The short-lived administration of Joseph Estrada was no exception, though “only” six journalists were killed between 1998 and 2001, when Estrada was removed from ofce by the popular uprising known as EDSA 2. Estrada was succeeded by Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo, who not only served the rest of Estrada's six year term from 2001 to 2004; she also managed to remain in power after the 2004 elections, which she claims to have won, until 2010. This turn of events made Arroyo the longest serving President of the Philippines since Marcos.