Newspaper editor shot dead by lone gunman

(Update) An unidentified gunman fatally shot the editor of a weekly newspaper in Mindanao, police said Monday, the latest in a string of killings of journalists. Hernani Pastolero, 64, was shot while sitting in front of his home in the village of Bulalo, Sultan Kudarat, Sharif Kabunsuan, about 910 kilometers southeast of Manila, police Superintendent Joel Goltiao said. The attacker, believed to be a hired assassin, fled on foot, he said. Inspector Ismael Mama said police had not determined the motive or found any suspects. Pastolero was a radio journalist and editor of several publications before he started publishing his own weekly, the Lightning Courier. His daughter, Eva Marie, said he had never mentioned death threats. He was the first Filipino journalist killed this year. He joined a long list of journalists gunned down since democracy was restored in the Philippines in 1986. The National Union of Journalists said at least 12 reporters were killed last year alone, bringing the death toll to 49 since 2001, when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took power. International media watchdogs have described the Philippines as among the most dangerous places for reporters in the world, and have criticized the government for not doing enough to find the perpetrators. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said the Philippines and Afghanistan had the highest journalist deaths in the region last year. With three deaths each, the two countries ranked globally only behind Iraq, where 32 journalists were killed in 2006. Tallies of the number of slain reporters in the Philippines differ from group to group, and police said they have recorded 26 journalists killed on duty since 1986. Police say many other cases were not work-related and involved land disputes or personal grudges. Jose Torres Jr., chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said the killing of Pastolero "is again proof of how official inaction has bred a culture of impunity and emboldened those who seek to stifle freedom of the press and of expression in this country." "This should be a challenge to our law enforcers to once and for all, show the world these killings are being addressed by the government," Torres said. - AP, GMANews.TV