MANILA – The killing of a local radio commentator in Daraga town in northeastern Albay has sparked outrage from government officials and media groups.
The 38-year-old Joey Llana, blocktimer of dwZR in Legazpi City, was maneuvering his van near his home in Barangay Penafrancia when unidentified suspects shot him dead, according to Bicol regional police head Chief Superintendent Arnel Escobal.
The incident happed Friday morning, which marks a new fatal attack against journalists in the country.
The assailants have escaped. Authorities said Llana had received unspecified death threats but the motive was still under investigation.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque Jr. regarded Llana’s killing as “another infringement on the rights to life and a free press.”
“The Presidential Task Force on Media Security will be relentless in according justice to this latest victim,” Roque added.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) also condemned Llana’s death, which the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said would be the 12th fatal media attack under President Rodrigo Duterte if it turns out to be work-related.
IFJ general secretary Anthony Bellanger called for immediate government action “to curb the culture of violence and impunity against the local media.”
“Philippine democracy is weakened every time a journalist is killed,” he stressed.
Sen. Grace Poe said Friday’s shooting was “another deplorable act.”
“[It] has no place in a democratic society,” said Poe, the chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media.
She also urged the police to “swiftly act on this and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
According to Poe, the increasing number of media killings and the slow resolution of cases embolden those who carry out the attacks against the sector.
“Let us not allow the culture of impunity to claim more lives,” Poe said.
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara also expressed his outrage over the radio anchor’s murder.
“This violence against a practicing journalist deserves no less than condemnation, as it has no place in a civilized society like ours,” Angara said.
He also sought an “immediate investigation” into the incident.
In November 2009, 58 people – more than half of them media workers – were gunned down in an elections-linked massacre in southern Ampatuan town that was also the world’s worst single attack on journalists. (With a report from AP/PN)
