KIDAPAWAN CITY – Two motorcycle gunmen shot dead a radio anchor in Kidapawan City in North Cotabato province in Mindanao, a media watch dog reported Thursday.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said Eduardo Dizon, of Brigada News, was killed late Wednesday. He was travelling in a car and returning home in Makilala town, also in North Cotabato, when gunmen who were tailing him opened fire.
“Dizon managed to steer his car to the side of the road, but died from five gunshots to the body,” NUJP said, quoting the local police chief Lt. Col. Maria Joyce Birrey.
The NUJP said Dizon reported to the police that he had allegedly been challenged to a gun duel the day before he was killed. It said the radio station’s hotline also received threatening message from mobile number 0935-3435064 that said: “Bantay mo Brigada mamatay unya mo bantay2 mo kay naa mupusil ninyo.” (Watch out Brigada because you will die, just wait someone will shoot you.)
“This tends to indicate that Dizon’s killing was related to his work as a broadcaster. If so, he would be the 13th journalist murdered under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte and the 186th since 1986,” NUJP said.
Dizon was the radio station manager until last year when he made an unsuccessful run for councilor in Makilala town. Prior to joining Brigada, he also anchored a public affairs program for Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporation’s dxND Radyo Bida and was a disc jockey for dxDM.
“Dizon’s murder underscores yet again how the overwhelming failure of government to ensure justice for violent crime can only invite even more bloodshed by perpetrators emboldened by the certainty that they can literally get away with murder. We demand that authorities solve Dizon’s murder and ensure the perpetrators are caught and successfully prosecuted,” NUJP said.
“At the same time, we demand that government do its duty and end the culture of impunity that continues to embolden those for whom violence is the preferred means to resolve disputes,” it added. (Mindanao Examiner)
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