DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / May 23, 2014) – Motorcycle gunmen shot dead a radio broadcaster in a daring attack Friday in the southern Philippine city of Digos, a Filipino media watchdog reported.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said the 57-year old Samuel Oliverio was shot at around 7.30 a.m. while heading home from a local market.
Oliverio hosted a news talk program at Radyo Ukay and Supreme Radio and had previously commented on local politics, illegal gambling activities and the proliferation of drugs in Digos.
“Local reporters say Oliverio was on his way home from the public market when he was assassinated by two men who did not bother to cover their faces,” it said in a bulletin sent out to the media.
It was not immediately known if the killing was connected to his scathing commentaries, but the NUJP said Oliverio had suffered a stroke in February and had gone on leave since then.
“Oliverio used to anchor a block time program at Radio Ukay and Supreme Radio, but had gone on leave since suffering a stroke in February. Colleagues in Digos said Oliverio used to deliver scathing commentaries on local politics and against the proliferation of illegal gambling and illegal drugs in the city,” the NUJP said.
The latest attack occurred just as Filipino journalists and media groups commemorate the 54th month since the massacre of 57 people, among them at least 32 journalists and media workers, covering the political caravan in Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the restive Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.
Most of those accused in the brutal attack in 2009 have been arrested and captured, but many witnesses had been abducted and killed, and the slow progress of the case is taking its toll on families and relatives of the victims, who fear that it would drag on for many more years before justice takes its course. (Mindanao Examiner)
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