Another journalist shot in ‘most murderous country for press’

A broadcast journalist who was shot and critically wounded yesterday became the latest casualty in a string of attacks that have prompted an international watchdog to call the Philippines the world’s most murderous country for reporters.

Klien Cantoneros, 32, a hard-hitting radio broadcaster, was riding home on his motorcycle in Dipolog City when three men shot him seven times with a caliber .45 automatic in Barangay Sta. Philomena shortly after midnight Tuesday, regional police director Chief Superintendent Vidal Querol said.

Cantoneros, who frequently criticized local officials for alleged corruption and mismanagement in his early morning program on radio station dxAA, remains in critical condition at a local hospital.

Colleagues said he had been receiving death threats, some through cell phone text messages, which he read over the air.

Police said when they rushed to the scene, they found the critically wounded Cantoneros clutching his own caliber .45 automatic.

He apparently was able to fire back at his assailants, based on bullet shells found near him, police investigators said.

The motive for the attack was unknown but Paul Gudmalin, former president of the provincial media club, said he believed it was related to Cantoneros’ work. "There is a pattern of systematic killing of journalists."

In an interview with radio station dzBB in Manila, Robert Baguio, a colleague of the victim, said Cantoneros was able to identify his attackers to policemen before he was rushed to the hospital.

The Dipolog provincial police has been tasked by Querol to form Task Force Cantoneros to investigate and solve the crime.

Cantoneros is the second journalist to be attacked in Dipolog since 1986, when democracy was restored to the country after 20 years of martial rule. Sixty-six Filipino journalists have been murdered since 1986, 23 of them in the past three years alone, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said.

The government condemned the ambush attempt on Cantoneros although it earlier rejected allegations by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) about the precarious state of press freedom in the Southeast Asian democracy.

"We expect the Philippine National Police to do its job in investigating this crime," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye told dzMM Radio in Manila.

On Tuesday, Filipino journalists vowed to defend their profession on World Press Freedom Day, despite the CPJ’s description of the country as the "most murderous" in the world for journalists, followed by Iraq, Colombia, Bangladesh and Russia.

Malacañang disagreed, however, with Bunye calling the CPJ report "unfair and exaggerated."

"Press freedom is fully protected and media practitioners may ask the police for special protection if their lives are under threat," Bunye said.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in an annual report issued on Tuesday that the Philippines was among the world’s most dangerous places for journalists.

At least 13 Filipino journalists have been killed since last year. Six of them were thought to have been murdered by hired killers, while seven others were slain in cases with unclear motives, it said.

Local politicians were the suspects in many of the cases, it said.

Despite the latest attack on Cantoneros and the adverse CPJ report, the PNP said yesterday that the Philippines still enjoys the distinction of having the most democratic and freest media in Asia.

"The generalization (of the CPJ report) is grossly unfair and exaggerated," said PNP chief Arturo Lomibao, who has also ordered a region-wide manhunt operations for Cantoneros’ attackers.

Police behind threats?

Meanwhile, the NUJP revealed yesterday that some ranking police officers might themselves be behind the death threats received by journalists.

"The people allegedly behind these threats are policemen. We are talking here of senior officers. The Philippine National Police should really look into this," said Inday Espina-Varona, NUJP chair, in yesterday’s "Meet the Press" forum at the National Press Club in Intramuros, Manila. She declined to name the PNP officers.

The latest fatality of alleged hired assassins on the NUJP’s list was newspaper columnist Marlene Esperat, who was shot dead last March 24 in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat.

Four days ago, radio commentator Nestor Seguismundo was also shot and wounded in Ilocos Sur. The PNP had no ranking representative present at the media forum.

Gen. Efren Abu, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, was represented by Air Force Brig. Gen. Jose Angel Honrado, chief of the AFP’s Civil Relations Service in the forum.

Honrado assured that any violent incident against journalists that involved soldiers or officers of the AFP will be swiftly investigated by an independent probe body.

In another development, a leader of a notorious organized crime group allegedly involved in the killing of radio journalist Apolinario Pobeda nearly two years ago was arrested by authorities in Batangas a week ago.

Regional police director Chief Superintendent Jesus Versoza identified the suspect as Joven Geron, leader of the Gerong Gang and a member of the dreaded Duenas Group operating in the provinces of Quezon, Batangas and Laguna. — With AP, AFP, Mike Frialde, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Benjie Villa, Artemio Dumlao Richelieu Umel, Arnell Ozaeta, Rene Alviar