Manila: A Philippine crime reporter has been shot dead, making him the second journalist killed since February this year and the 195th since 1986, after the ouster of former president Ferdinand Marcos whose Martial law rule resulted in hundreds of extrajudicial killings of activists, sources said.
Alex Balcoba, 56, a reporter and columnist of the People’s Brigada, a daily tabloid, was attacked by two unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen outside his family-owned watch repair shop in Metro Manila late Friday, National Press Club president Paul Gutierrez said on Saturday.
Other journalists who were with Balcoba rushed him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, Gutierrez said.
Policemen failed to find the two gunmen, who fled to an unknown destination, Gutierrez said, adding officers promised to follow up the case.
But Balcoba will likely be added to the country’s list of unsolved murders of reporters, Gutierrez said, adding, “The culture of impunity that is behind these attacks is yet to be addressed by the authorities despite their repeated boasts and promises.”
Balcoba had been covering the Philippine National Police since the 1990s.
He becomes the second journalist to be murdered in the Philippines this year,
About 10 suspects have been convicted for attacks on journalists across the country since 1986, according to the NPC.
Thirty two journalists were among 58 people killed by a powerful Filipino-Muslim warlord clan that was engaged in a political struggle with another Filipino-Muslim family in a 2009 election-related incident.
It was one of the world’s deadliest peace time attacks against journalists. More than 100 people were charged and are still facing trial for the incident,
Because of these incidents, the Philippines has been cited as one of the most dangerous countries for reporters, who are often killed at the orders of politically powerful figures.
Because of a slow judicial system in the country, 90 per cent of the murder cases involving reporters have not yet seen convictions, journalists’ groups say.