18 September 2022 | CPJ
Radio reporter stabbed in Mabinay, Philippines
Knife attack
Renato Blanco, a radio reporter at Power 102.1 DYRY RFM, was stabbed in the neck during an altercation in Mabinay, Philippines, on September 18, 2022, according to news reports.
Suspect Charles Amada surrendered to police soon after the killing and was taken into custody.
Lieutenant Colonel Roland Desiree Lavisto, a provincial police official, said that Amada confessed to Blanco’s murder during police interrogations and that he said he acted out of anger over Blanco’s radio commentaries that were critical of him and his political family.
Blanco frequently reported on local politics, corruption, and social issues. A station representative said Blanco had alleged on his regular program that Armada and his family members were involved in local corruption, including an overpricing scheme that resulted in local power outages.
The representative said Blanco had also reported on illegal quarrying, overpricing of medical supplies purchased during the pandemic, and alleged electoral fraud at this year’s May elections that caused thousands to march in the town’s streets in protest.
The Presidential Task Force on Media Security, a state agency comprised of law enforcement agencies including the Philippine National Police (PNP) tasked with solving media murders, said in a September 19 statement that it presumed the killing was “work related” as a matter of policy but that it was “too early to determine the exact motive behind the incident.”
Read the original article here: https://cpj.org/data/people/renato-blanco/
