Broadcaster killed in broad daylight in Bohol

Manila: A broadcaster in Central Philippines’ Bohol was shot and killed Saturday morning by an assailant riding a motorcycle, a journalists organisation said.

Maurito Lim, who is in his 60s, was about to alight from his car when a lone gunman shot him in front of the radio station dyRD in Tagbilaran City where he worked. Leo Udtuhan, chair of the local chapter of the National Union of Journalists (NUJP) confirmed, quoting witnesses.

Lim, an engineer, was the first media man to die from assassin’s bullet in 2015. He was rushed to the nearby Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital where he died at around 1:15pm.

The bullet struck Lim in the left jaw and exited on the other side of his face, according to accounts.

Lim, who hosted the radio programme Chairman Mao Onboard, died at 10.35pm.

Authorities are still investigating circumstances surrounding the murder of the broadcaster-engineer, but Udtuhan said the victim had been criticising local officials involved in illegal drugs.

NUJP said that Lim was the second journalist killed in Tagbilaran in recent years and is the 34th under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.

The incident comes at the heels of a report by the group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which placed the Philippines’ 141 out of 180 countries in the 2014 Press Freedom Index.

At the bottom of the index is Syria, which is under a state of civil war and on top is Finland followed by Norway, according to the NGO based in France.

The organisation said in 2014, three journalists died in the Philippines.