A policeman checks on the world the place a radio anchor was fatally shot by a person inside his home-based station on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023, on this handout picture offered by the Calamba Municipal Police Station. The brazen assault was witnessed by folks watching this system dwell on Fb.
Calamba Municipal Police Station/through AP
cover caption
toggle caption
Calamba Municipal Police Station/through AP
A policeman checks on the world the place a radio anchor was fatally shot by a person inside his home-based station on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023, on this handout picture offered by the Calamba Municipal Police Station. The brazen assault was witnessed by folks watching this system dwell on Fb.
Calamba Municipal Police Station/through AP
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 folks watching this system dwell on Fb.
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 dwell 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 exterior Jumalon’s home, onboard a motorbike, police mentioned. An investigation was underway to determine the gunman and set up if the assault was work-related.
The Philippines has lengthy been considered one of the vital harmful locations for journalists on the planet.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. strongly condemned the capturing 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 those that threaten the liberty of the press will face the complete penalties of their actions,” Marcos mentioned in an announcement.
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 searching 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 useless on the best way 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 robust political clan and their associates gunned down 58 folks, 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 considerations journalists face within the poverty-stricken Southeast Asian nation.
