17 June 2009
Antonio Castillo
Shooting
Two men on a motorcycle chased and killed a community newspaper commentator on a remote island in the central Philippines, a press watchdog said on Wednesday, the fifth journalist murdered in the country this year.
Antonio Castillo was shot at close range by two men after a brief chase in Uson town on Masbate island on June 12, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) said in a statement. Castillo, a columnist for community paper "Bigwas" (Blow), died while being treated at a hospital, but he was able to give the identity of his attackers to investigators, CMFR said, quoting Uson town police chief Aurora Moran. "It was possible the killing was work-related," Luis Teodoro, a journalism professor at the University of the Philippines and CMFR deputy director, told Reuters.
"Of course, we're getting alarmed. In a span of just a week, we have two journalists killed for reporting and commenting on alleged corruption at the community level. Government must do more to discourage violence against journalists."
Three days before Castillo's murder, radio host Crispin Perez was shot dead in front of his house in San Jose City on Mindoro island, also in the central Philippines. Teodoro said Perez hosted two talk shows at a state-owned radio station in Occidental Mindoro province and had strongly criticised local mining and energy interests in the province.
