ZAMBOANGA CITY, 20 October 2004 — Another broadcaster was killed in a broad daylight attack yesterday in the southern province of Surigao del Sur, police and media advocates said yesterday. Eldy Sablas have just boarded a tricycle yesterday morning after buying something from a department store in Tandag town when a still unidentified gunman appeared from behind and shot him repeatedly with a .45 cal. pistol. Investigators said the victim suffered three gunshot wounds in the head and in the body. | Bet it was two in the chest and a finishing shot to the head. Sounds like a professional job. |
The 30-year-old broadcaster of radio station DXJR was the eighth journalist to be murdered in the country this year, according to the watchdog National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP). He was the second journalist to be killed in the Caraga region, comprising the Agusan and Surigao provinces in northeastern Mindanao. Last year, Rico Ramirez, a radio reporter, was shot dead while on his way to work in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur. "It is high time for the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to prove itself and its claim that there is press freedom in the country by bringing to justice the killers of journalists," NUJP national president Inday Varona said.
The NUJP and the Butuan-based Professional Responsible and Organized Media of Caraga (PRO-Media of Caraga ) said Sablas' death could have something to do with his repeated attacks against illegal gambling, illegal logging and illegal drugs in the province. | "Brilliant! How do they do it?" |
Sablas delivered his last on-air report from the Tandag police station. | Humm, he do any reporting on bad cops? Just a thought. |
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