Incident

Filipino radio journalist Juan Jumalon shot dead

Cause of death

Shooting

Details

On the morning of November 6, 2023, an assailant entered Jumalon’s home-based radio station pretending to be a listener and shot him twice during his live broadcast on Facebook in the city of Calamba, on the southern island of Mindanao. The attacker stole Jumalon’s gold necklace before escaping on a motorcycle driven by a waiting accomplice, sources said.

Sunday’s livestream on 94.7 Gold Mega Calamba FM, a local Visayan-language station, was removed from Facebook but video clips circulating online show Jumalon pausing and looking away from the camera before two apparent gunshots are heard, the U.S. news channel CNN reported. The journalist was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital, news reports said.

“The wanton killing of radio reporter Juan Jumalon shows that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s government isn’t doing enough to protect the press,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Talk is not equivalent to action. Until Marcos Jr.’s government shows it is serious about ending impunity for such killings, journalists will continue to be murdered at a horrific rate in the Philippines.”

Marcos Jr. addressed Jumalon’s killing in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying, “Attacks on journalists will not be tolerated in our democracy, and those who threaten the freedom of the press will face the full consequences of their actions.”

Jumalon is the fourth journalist to be killed since Marcos Jr. took power in June 2022.

Jumalon, also known as DJ Johnny Walker, hosted a regular call-in program on 94.7 Gold Mega Calamba FM, which discussed everything from neighborhood issues to relationships, those sources said.  

Captain Diore Libre Ragonio, the officer-in-charge at Calamba Municipal Police Station, told a news conference that authorities had identified at least three suspects and were investigating motives related to the journalist’s work, as well as personal matters.

Read the original article: https://cpj.org/2023/11/filipino-radio-journalist-juan-jumalon-shot-dead-while-live-broadcasting/