A radio presenter He was shot dead on Sunday at his station in the southern Philippines, in a striking attack that was witnessed by people who followed the program live on Facebook.
He armed man pretended to be a listener to enter the station installed in the news reporter’s home Juan Jumalon, in the town of Calamba, in the province of Misamis Occidental, according to the police. Then I’ll shot twice during a live morning show.
He The attacker took the victim’s gold necklace before fleeing with another person who was waiting outside the Jumalon house on a motorcycle., according to the police. An investigation was underway to identify the attacker and establish whether the attack was related to the journalist’s work.
The Philippines has long been considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. strongly condemned the killing and said he had ordered the national police to locate, arrest and prosecute the killers.
“Attacks against journalists will not be tolerated in our democracy, and those who threaten press freedom will face the full consequences of their actions.”Marcos stated in a statement.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, a body that monitors press freedom, said that Jumalon was the 199th journalist murdered in the country since 1986.when democracy was restored after a popular uprising that overthrew dictator Ferdinad Marcos, the father of the current president, and forced the dictator and his family into exile to the United States.
“The attack is even more reprehensible because it occurred in Jumalon’s own home, which also served as a radio station,” the union said.
A video of the attack showed Jumalon, 57, who was wearing glasses, stop and look up at something that was not on camera before two gunshots were heard. Then the journalist fell back into his chair, bloodied, while music played in the background. His death was certified on the way to the hospital.
The attacker did not appear in the video on Facebook, but police said they were checking to see if security cameras in the home and in the neighbors had recorded anything.
In 2009, members of an influential political clan and their associates killed 58 people, including 32 media workers, in a brutal execution-style attack in the southern province of Maguindanao. It was the deadliest attack against journalists in recent history.
Although the mass killing was later linked to a violent electoral rivalry common in many rural areas, it also reflected the threats faced by journalists in the Philippines. The abundance of unlicensed weapons and private armies controlled by powerful clans and the weakness of security forces in rural areas are part of the security risks for reporters in the impoverished Southeast Asian country.
(with information from AP)
Source-www.infobae.com