Palawan, Philippines. A sample of images from an amazing country. More to come in Geo Saison Magazine. Copyright Brown W Cannon III

Jounalist Dr. Gerry Ortega May 12, 1979 - Jan 24, 2011

Journalists in the Philippines are often targeted by powerful people who want to silence them, especially journalists who report on heated political and environmental issues. On Jan 24, 2011 days before my arrival in Palawan, prominent news anchor and commentator with dwAR Dr. Gerry Ortega was gunned down in the San Pedro district of Puerto Princessa City. It happened in front of the clothing store in the above photo. Ortega had just left his weekly radio show titiled, "RAMARAK" aka "Rapid Fire". It was a show designed to speak truthfully about his concerns regarding corruption, government spending, mining and logging. Ortega reportedly was investigating where and how the government was spending money made from local mining operations. The gunman Marlon de Camata aka Marvin Alcaraz was hired from Taguig City to kill the broadcaster for approximately $3500USD. Following the killing and his fortunately quick capture Alcaraz relinquished information that led to the arrest of ten individuals, including former high officials of Palawan and Marinduque provinces.

For me, the real conversation is not the details of this particular slaying, but in the words of IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park, “this brutal attack is an affront to free speech and press freedom in an already restrictive environment of government control." Our world has become a very dangerous place to speak out. And it is happening not only in the Philippines, but in Mexico, Cairo, Vietnam, Iran and beyond. I commend individuals such as Gerry, who take the known risk to talk about the truth in a country where money rules all. He was willing to risk everything to bring the facts to the people through his radio program. After spending 2 weeks in Palawan I can say that Gerry Ortega is a household name. Love him or hate his cause, everyone knows who he is and knows what he fought for. His death made his cause stronger and it will hopefully help in the reduction of widespread corruption.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said that 142 journalists had been murdered since the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the restoration of democracy in 1986. -- AFP

INTERSECTION GIVES BACK

Brown and Cedric are committed to giving back to the places they photograph. They are proud to announce that INTERSECTION will be donating a percentage of all sales to the people who have trusted them in front of the camera and to the places that have enriched their imagery.

The first official INTERSECTION donation was given last week to the Batak Village on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. Slash and burn farming has recently been banned on the island of Palawan. This is a positive in most cases as it minimizes deforestation. However, the Batak people have survived off of this type of farming to provide enough rice for their people for decades. With this new policy they are no longer able to grow enough food. They are being displaced, and their culture is at risk of disappearing.

The INTERSECTION donation is to help begin a banana tree planting project. Mature banana trees are plentiful with fruit and while they will not erase the need to produce rice, the project will make the production of necessary rice stock more manageable. In addition, the Batak people will be able to sell bananas to help buy rice when in need. We will be updated periodically and will keep you posted on the progress of the project.

The Batak is comprised of 5 settlements and has a population of approximately 351 people. This photograph is the chief of the settlement in Kalakuasan.

PATA Gold Award Winner 2011

Photographer Brown Cannon was awarded the 2011 PATA Gold Award in Travel Journalism for a story he photographed for ISLANDS Magazine titled, "It's a Mentawai Paddle."

http://www.islands.com/articles/mentawai-magazine-article