MANILA, Philippines — A radio anchor was fatally shot by a person inside his southern Philippine station Sunday in a brazen assault that was witnessed by individuals watching this system reside on Facebook.
The gunman gained entry into the home-based radio station of provincial information broadcaster Juan Jumalon by pretending to be a listener. He then shot him twice throughout a reside morning broadcast in Calamba city in Misamis Occidental province, police mentioned.
The attacker snatched the sufferer’s gold necklace earlier than fleeing with a companion, who waited outdoors Jumalon’s home, onboard a bike, police mentioned. An investigation was underway to establish the gunman and set up if the assault was work-related.
The Philippines has lengthy been considered one of the harmful locations for journalists on this planet.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. strongly condemned the taking pictures and mentioned he ordered the nationwide police to trace down, arrest and prosecute the killers.
“Assaults on journalists is not going to be tolerated in our democracy and people who threaten the liberty of the press will face the total penalties of their actions,” Marcos mentioned in a press release.
The Nationwide Union of Journalists of the Philippines, a press freedom watchdog, mentioned Jumalon was the 199th journalist to be killed within the nation since 1986, when democracy returned after a “Folks Energy” rebellion toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the daddy of the present president, and compelled him and his household into U.S. exile.
“The assault is much more condemnable because it occurred at Jumalon’s own residence, which additionally served because the radio station,” the watchdog mentioned.
A video of the assault reveals the bespectacled Jumalon, 57, pausing and looking out upward at one thing away from the digital camera earlier than two photographs rang out. He slumped again bloodied in his chair as a background music performed on. He was pronounced {dead} on the way in which to a hospital.
The attacker was not seen on the Fb livestream however police mentioned they had been checking if safety cameras put in in the home and at his neighbors recorded something.
In 2009, members of a strong political clan and their associates gunned down 58 individuals, together with 32 media employees, in a brazen execution-style assault in southern Maguindanao province. It was the deadliest single assault on journalists in latest historical past.
Whereas the mass killing was later linked to a violent electoral rivalry widespread in lots of rural areas, it additionally showcased the threats confronted by journalists within the Philippines. A surfeit of unlicensed weapons and personal armies managed by highly effective clans and weak regulation enforcement in rural areas are among the many safety issues journalists face within the poverty-stricken Southeast Asian nation.