A Philippine radio anchor is fatally shot while on Facebook livestream watched by followers

MANILA – A radio anchor was once fatally shot by a person within his southern Philippine station Sunday in a brazen assault that was once witnessed by other folks gazing this system reside on Facebook.

The gunman received access into the home-based radio station of provincial news broadcaster Juan Jumalon by pretending to be a listener. He then shot him two times right through a reside morning broadcast in Calamba the city in Misamis Occidental province, police stated.

The attacker snatched the sufferer’s gold necklace sooner than fleeing with a better half, who waited outdoor Jumalon’s area, onboard a motorbike, police stated. An investigation was once underway to spot the gunman and determine if the assault was once work-related.

The Philippines has lengthy been considered one of the most dangerous places for journalists on this planet.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. strongly condemned the capturing and stated he ordered the nationwide police to trace down, arrest and prosecute the killers.

“Attacks on journalists will not be tolerated in our democracy and those who threaten the freedom of the press will face the full consequences of their actions,” Marcos said in a statement.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, a press freedom watchdog, said Jumalon was the 199th journalist to be killed in the country since 1986, when democracy returned after a “People Power” uprising toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the father of the current president, and forced him and his family into U.S. exile.

“The assault is much more condemnable because it took place at Jumalon’s own residence, which additionally served because the radio station,” the watchdog stated.

A video of the assault displays the bespectacled Jumalon, 57, pausing and having a look upward at one thing clear of the digicam sooner than two photographs rang out. He slumped again bloodied in his chair as a background song performed on. He was once pronounced useless on the right way to a health center.

The attacker was once now not observed on the Facebook livestream however police stated they have been checking if safety cameras put in in the home and at his neighbors recorded anything else.

In 2009, participants of a formidable political extended family and their buddies gunned down 58 other folks, together with 32 media employees, in a brazen execution-style assault in southern Maguindanao province. It was once the deadliest unmarried assault on reporters in contemporary historical past.

While the mass killing was once later related to a violent electoral competition not unusual in lots of rural spaces, it additionally showcased the threats confronted by reporters within the Philippines. A surfeit of unlicensed weapons and personal armies managed by tough clans and susceptible regulation enforcement in rural areas are a number of the safety considerations reporters face within the poverty-stricken Southeast Asian nation.