MANILA, Jan. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- The Philippines remains the most dangerous country for media in the Asia-Pacific region, ranking the second following Iraq as one of the journalist-hostile territories in the world, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Monday.

    The Philippines had 10 domestic journalists killed in 2005, the IFJ said in its latest report, the country is second only to war-torn Iraq where 35 media workers were killed last year.

    The IFJ report said that of the total of 150 journalists and media workers killed in 2005, some 36 were from the Asia-Pacific region. Many were assassinated by ruthless killers working for political gangs or criminals, it added.

    It said more than 90 percent of the deadly cases do not result in serious investigations by authorities with only a handful of the killers are ever brought to trial.

    The IFJ also blamed a combination of police corruption, judicial incompetence and political indifference for creating a "culture of neglect" when it came to media deaths.

    The IFJ urged the Philippine government to put a stop to media killings in the Philippines by pursuing suspects behind the murder of Filipino journalists. Enditem