Another journalist shot dead, 3rd in RP in a week

An unidentified gunman shot dead a newspaper writer in southern Philippines Saturday night, the third journalist killed in the Philippines in a week. Investigators could not immediately establish the motive behind the attack on Nestor Bedolido, who was shot six times with a pistol outside his karaoke pub in Digos city in Davao del Sur province. A report on GMA Network’s “24 Oras" Sunday night said Bedolido, 50, was a writer for the weekly local paper Kastigador. He was rushed by bystanders to the nearby Gonzales Hospital but died before receiving treatment.

The assailant fled the scene on a motorcycle where an unidentified accomplice was waiting, the report said. A son of the victim, Marxlen Bedolido, told a local radio that his father's killing maybe linked to local politics. The victim backed a losing gubernatorial candidate in last month’s elections, and also used to edit a weekly magazine that supported and was published by a local politician. Political and media killings are common in the Philippines, where 57 supporters of a gubernatorial candidate in Maguindanao province also in southern Philippines were massacred last year in the country's worst election-related violence. Of that group, at least 30 were journalists. Bedolido’s death came just days after two other journalists were killed in separate incidents during the week. On Tuesday, radio broadcaster Jovelito Agustin of dzJC Aksyon Radyo Laoag was ambushed in Laoag City in Ilocos Norte while on his way home. He died while receiving treatment. A day before that, Desiderio Camangyan, a radio anchor of Sunshine FM, was killed with a single shot to the head while hosting a singing contest in Manay town in Mati, Davao Oriental. The media watchdog National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) expressed alarm over Bedolido’s killing, and scored to government for its failure to identify and prosecute perpetrators of media killings. "It is clear that government’s failure or… refusal to hold accountable those responsible for the killings – especially the masterminds – makes it equally guilty, an accomplice to the bloodbath that has made a mockery of all our claims to being a democracy," the NUJP said in a statement. The group challenged President-elect Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III to put an end to the murder of journalists. “Ending the killings of journalists and resolving past cases will be a litmus test of how seriously Aquino considers his promise of good governance," it said. Records of the NUJP show Bedolido’s death brought to 140 the number of journalists and media workers killed since 1986 — 103 of which died under the administration of outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. - with AP/KBK, GMANews.TV