Manila  - The Philippine police force has formed dedicated teams to track down suspects in the killings of journalists as part of an effort to end unabated attacks on media representatives, a spokesman said Friday.

Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome said national police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa instructed a police task force to supervise the manhunts for suspects in media killings.

He said the tracker teams were formed on the orders of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who recently met with media groups to discuss the continued attacks.

Arroyo also instructed the police to develop a reward system to hasten the arrest of suspects, Bartolome said.

According to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, 100 journalists have been killed in the country since 1986.

Sixty-four of the murders have taken place under the Arroyo administration's watch since 2001.

Two journalists have been killed so far this year and seven journalists were killed last year.

Most of the murder cases remained unsolved.

Bartolome said police were closely coordinating with media groups to identify journalists who were under threat and were considering conducting security training for media workers.

"We will also conduct risk assessment for these threatened journalists and possibly provide protective security if necessary," he said. (dpa)