11th journalist killed in Cabanatuan

A radio broadcaster was gunned down last Thursday by two still unidentified men at the victim’s farm in Cabanatuan City. He was the 11th journalist killed this year.

The International Federation of Journalists Media Safety Office based in Quezon City reported that Ponciano Grande, 53, of radio station dwJJ died after he suffered five gunshot wounds in the body after the suspects attacked him at his farm in Barangay Sta. Arcadia.

Grande was a co-host of his wife Annie in a radio program at dwJJ. He was the 47th journalist killed since President Arroyo assumed office in 2001.

Grande was a member of the Nueva Ecija Press Club and a former columnist of the weekly publications The Recorder and Nueva Ecija Times, said the IFJ office.

Mrs. Grande told reporters that she left her husband in front of their jeepney that was parked along a road in Sitio Romantico to visit some neighbors there.

A few minutes later, she heard gunshots and discovered her husband lying on the road.

She said the gunmen, who were armed with a .45 cal. pistol, chased her but they did not harm her. She told policemen that the gunmen appeared to be in their teens.