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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 stay on Fb.
Police stated the gunman gained entry into the home-based radio station of provincial information broadcaster Juan Jumalon — who glided by the identify “DJ Johnny Walker” — by pretending to be a listener. He then shot him twice throughout a stay morning broadcast in Calamba city in Misamis Occidental province, police stated.
The attacker snatched the sufferer’s gold necklace earlier than fleeing with a companion, who waited outdoors Jumalon’s home, onboard a bike, police stated. An investigation was underway to establish the gunman and set up if the assault was work-related.
The Philippines has lengthy been considered probably the most harmful locations for journalists on the earth.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. strongly condemned the capturing and stated he ordered the nationwide police to trace down, arrest and prosecute the killers.
“Assaults on journalists won’t be tolerated in our democracy and people who threaten the liberty of the press will face the total penalties of their actions,” Marcos stated in an announcement.
The Nationwide Union of Journalists of the Philippines, a press freedom watchdog, stated Jumalon was the 199th journalist to be killed within the nation since 1986, when democracy returned after a “Individuals 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 stated.
A video of the assault reveals the bespectacled Jumalon, 57, pausing and looking out upward at one thing away from the digicam earlier than two photographs rang out. He slumped again bloodied in his chair as a background music performed on. The BBC reported that the DJ’s spouse took him to hospital instantly after the incident, however he was pronounced useless on the best way to a hospital.
The attacker was not seen on the Fb livestream however police stated they have been checking if safety cameras put in in the home and at his neighbors recorded something.
Captain Deore Ragonio, police chief in Calamba municipality, stated they have been investigating a motive for the killing. They weren’t conscious of any earlier threats towards Jumalon’s life.
“He tackles largely present occasions and isn’t identified to have criticized anybody in his broadcasts,” Ragonio instructed AFP.
Jumalon used the identify “DJ Johnny Walker” in his Cebuano-language present on the 94.7 Gold FM Calamba station.
His broadcasts have been additionally aired on the station’s Fb web page, which has 2,400 followers. A video of the DJ was posted as lately as Oct. 29 on the radio station’s Fb web page.
Different lethal assaults on journalists within the Philippines
In 2009, members of a strong political clan and their associates gunned down 58 individuals, together with 32 media staff, in a brazen execution-style assault in southern Maguindanao province. It was the deadliest single assault on journalists in current historical past.
Whereas the mass killing was later linked to a violent electoral rivalry frequent 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 legislation enforcement in rural areas are among the many safety issues journalists face within the poverty-stricken Southeast Asian nation.
Radio journalists have been focused in current months within the Philippines. In Might, two assailants on a bike shot and killed radio host Cris Bundoquin on a highway within the metropolis of Calapan, in accordance with a number of information reviews.
Final October, motorcycle-riding gunmen killed longtime radio commentator Percival Mabasa in metropolitan Manila. Police stated Mabasa, 63, was driving his automobile Monday evening when two males on a bike approached and shot him twice within the head in suburban Las Pinas Metropolis.
The Philippines ranks eighth on the Committee to Defend Journalists’ new “impunity index,” which spotlights nations worldwide the place journalists are murdered and the killers go free.
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