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Int'l media groups outraged over radioman's killing


MANILA, Philippines - International media watchdog groups voiced outrage Tuesday (Manila time) over the killing of a radio commentator in Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental province Monday. France-based Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres) called on police to use their resources to solve the killing of Aristeo Padrigao. "Being a radio journalist continues to be a very dangerous activity in the Philippines because of the government's inability, in certain parts of the country, to combat organized crime, which is often linked to corrupt politicians. Given the nature of Padrigao's comments, especially about illegal logging, and the threats he had received, the police should work on the assumption that he was killed in connection with his work," it said in a statement on its website. On the other hand, New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said government is to blame for the continued aura of impunity surrounding the killings. "We are deeply concerned that Arecio Padrigao may be the latest in the growing toll of Philippine journalists slain for their work. The aura of impunity surrounding these attacks on journalists is the government's fault. As long as authorities continue in their failure to prosecute those responsible for such killings, journalists will be seen as easy targets," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator, in an article on the CPJ website. Motorcycle-riding men gunned down Padrigao outside Bukidnon State University where he had just dropped off one of his children early Monday morning. Police and his colleagues said he had been threatened for criticizing illegal logging on his morning program "Sayre ang Katilingban" (Know Society) on Gingoog City-based FM Radyo Natin dxRS. The victim also wrote for the Mindanao Monitor Today, a regional daily. CPJ noted at least two radio broadcasters were gunned down in separate incidents in the Philippines in August this year. Dennis Cuesta was fatally wounded after a shooting attack near a shopping mall in General Santos City, for his hard-hitting reports on local corruption, drugs, and illegal gambling. Martin Roxas died in a hospital in central Capiz from a bullet wound to the spine when he was shot while leaving his office. On the other hand, motorcycle-riding gunmen were also behind the killing of at least two print journalists this year. In April, Benefredo Acabal succumbed to five gunshot wounds before reaching a hospital in Manila. Gunmen murdered Bert Sison and wounded his daughter in their car in Sariaya town, southeast of Manila, in June. CPJ said it is investigating the motives in those cases. The CPJ has also launched a global campaign to combat impunity in unsolved journalist murders, focusing initially on the Philippines and Russia. - GMANews.TV
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