Ilocos broadcaster shot dead, second in 24 hours

Barely 24 hours after a radio commentator was shot dead in Mindanao, another radioman died after being shot in Illocos Norte Tuesday night. Radio dzRH reported Wednesday that Jovelito Agustin of dzJC Aksyon Radyo Laoag died while undergoing treatment at a hospital at 1:15 a.m. Wednesday. Agustin, 37, was shot at least four times past 10 p.m. at the boundary of Laoag City and Bacarra town while he was heading home, a local police official said in an interview on dzBB. “Kagabi pasado 10 p.m., pauwi si Lito Agustin sa Bacarra, yan ang susunod na bayan going north from Laoag. Nang malapit sa boundary nag-overtake ang motor may sakay na dalawang kalalakihan. Ang nakaangkas, siya ang bumaril sa kanya apat na beses (About past 10 p.m., Agustin was on his way home to Bacarra town. At the boundary of Bacarra town and Laoag City, a motorcycle with two men overtook his motorcycle and the back rider shot him at least four times)," Laoag City police head Superintendent Sterling Blanco said. Blanco said they recovered four shells from a cal-.45 pistol. He said Agustin’s nephew, a backrider on the victim’s motorcycle, could not give other details about the suspects. Citing initial reports reaching him, Blanco said Agustin sustained gunshot wounds on the left side of the body. He also said the Laoag City police are coordinating with Bacarra town police to see if Tuesday night’s shooting was connected with the strafing of Agustin’s house in Bacarra last May 7. “Nakikipagugnayan kami sa chief of police para meron kaming comparison sa ibang ebidensya sa nakuha namin. Hopefully makakuha tayo ng malinaw na motibo (We are coordinating with the Bacarra chief of police to compare notes. Hopefully we can establish the motive for the incident)," he said. Agustin was known to his listeners as Aksyon Lito. He left behind two children, the eldest being four years old and the youngest having been baptized only recently. The dzRH report said Agustin's colleagues suspect his commentaries against corruption in the province may have been a possible motive for the attack. It added that Ilocos police are already investigating the incident. Last Monday night, an unidentified assailant shot dead radio anchor Desidario Camangyan who was hosting an amateur singing contest in Manay town in Davao Oriental province at around 10:30 p.m. [See: Broadcaster shot dead in Davao Oriental - police] Mounting intl pressure Agustin's killing happened just as international pressure has started mounting for Philippine authorities to solve quickly the killing of Camangyan. New York-based media watchdog group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged police Wednesday (Manila time) to bring the killers of Camangyan to justice soonest. “Police must move quickly to apprehend the killers of Desidario Camangyan and prosecute those responsible... The authorities must ensure that no witnesses are intimidated from coming forward or testifying, as has been the case in previous such murders in the Philippines," said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, on CPJ’s website. Camangyan, 52, succumbed to a shot to the head in front of the contest’s audience, which included his wife and six-year-old son, CPJ said as it cited initial accounts on the incident. He was an anchor for local radio station Sunrise FM in Mati City, according to local press freedom group the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines. “Sunrise Manager Bobong Alcantara told local journalists that Camangyan’s hard-hitting commentaries against illegal logging operations were a possible motive in the attack. Camangyan had also campaigned for the incumbent mayor of Mati, Michelle Rabat, in last month’s general elections, according to local news reports," CPJ said. A local police task force led by Senior Superintendent Jorge Corpuz is investigating the killing. The CPJ noted it had written President-elect Benigno Simeon Aquino III last June 9 to address the country’s high rate of journalist murders. In its letter, it also asked Aquino to thoroughly investigate the November 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre, where 57 people including 32 journalists were killed. On the other hand, the CPJ said the Philippines placed third in its Impunity Index, a list of countries which consistently fail to address journalist killings, after Iraq and Somalia.— LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV