MANILA — A hard-hitting radio commentator was gunned down in the southern Philippines yesterday, the latest victim in a series of killings of journalists.
Armando Pace, who worked with Radyo Ukay (Radio DXDS) in the southern Digos city, 980 kilometers southeast of Manila, was shot repeatedly as he was driving home on a motorcycle at around 1 p.m., police and local media said.
Senior Inspector Cesar Cabuhat, the city police chief, said Pace was hit in the back of the head and chest and was declared dead on the spot.
Police quoted witnesses as saying the assailants, who were tailing Pace after he left the radio station, drove alongside his motorcycle and fired at him on a main road in full view of many people.
The two men escaped and no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Police and media organizations said the killing could be a result of Pace’s hard-hitting commentaries.
Colleagues said Pace had often criticized alleged corruption and illegal activities of local politicians and government officials in his radio program.
Chief Superintendent Ricardo Quinto, the police chief of the Davao region, said the 51-year-old victim had bragged on his show that he was the most sued broadcaster with 99 libel cases for his reports on local politicians.
“We’re still investigating to find out if the killing was work related,” Quinto told reporters in Davao City. Cabahut said investigators were retrieving tapes of Pace’s radio program for possible clues on who could be behind his killing.
Pace was the ninth journalist killed in the country this year.
Based on a count by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), Pace was the 45th journalist to be murdered since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came to power in January 2001 and the 82nd since 1986, when democracy was restored in the Philippines through a “people power revolt.”
NUJP spokesman Joe Torres said 10 journalists were killed in the Philippines, considered the deadliest place in the world for reporters outside of strife-torn Iraq.
Pace’s murder came a month after husband-and-wife radio commentators were ambushed by two motorcycle-riding gunmen near Kidapawan City in the Cotabato region of Mindanao.
Last month, gunmen also shot and killed George Vigo, a correspondent for the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN), and his wife, Macel Alave-Vigo, also a broadcaster, in Kidapawan City in North Cotabato province, not far from Digos.
Vigo was also the executive director of the non-government organization Peoples’ Kauyahan Foundation, Inc., which initiates community peace forums and dialogues in North Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces.
Town Police Chief Gunned Down
In the island of Jolo, also in the southern Philippines, a town police chief and three other security officers were killed in an attack by Abu Sayyaf rebels, officials said.
Three policemen were also wounded in the ambush in Maimbung town on Jolo, 1,000 kilometers south of Manila.
Maimbung police chief Inspector Abdusamad Manalang, two of his men and a government militiamen were killed in the fighting, said Senior Superintendent Ahirum Ajirim, the police chief of Sulu province, which covers Maimbung.
Ajirim said the policemen and militiamen were on their way to the village of Lapah to reinforce soldiers battling rebels when they were ambushed.
“We lost three police officers and three others were wounded,” he said. “One militiaman was also killed in the attack.”
Lt. Col. Pablo Lorenzo, an army battalion commander based in Maimbung, said clashes with the Abu Sayyaf rebels started early Monday.
“Right now the fighting is ongoing,” he said, confirming that police forces in the area suffered casualties.
The Abu Sayyaf is the smallest but most violent Muslim rebel group in the southern Philippines. It has been responsible for some of the worst terror attacks in the country. (With input from agencies)
