EDITORIAL- Another broadcaster murdered

Even as the nation awaits the arrest of former Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag and his aide Ricardo Zulueta for the murder of broadcaster Percival Mabasa, another radio commentator was gunned down, this time in Oriental Mindoro.

Cresenciano Aldovino Bunduquin, 50, was shot dead in front of a store in Calapan City at 4:20 a.m. yesterday by two suspects on a motorcycle. Police said Bunduquin’s son, who was in a car, gave chase and hit the motorcycle. The riders were thrown off and the biker died of head injuries, but the back rider managed to escape.

Bunduquin is the third media worker to be killed since the start of the Marcos administration. On Sept. 18 last year, Renato “Rey” Blanco of dyRY RFM in Mabinay, Negros Oriental was stabbed dead in the same town. The suspect, Charles Amada, surrendered and allegedly told police he resented Bunduquin’s criticism on radio of his sister-in-law Josephine, the barangay captain of Himucdongon in Mabinay. Blanco was murdered while visiting the home of Amada’s brother.

Prosecutors also assert that Bantag and Zulueta sent hired guns to assassinate Mabasa, known as Percy Lapid, because of the broadcaster’s critical commentary on Bantag’s lifestyl1e and performance in government. Mabasa was shot dead on Oct. 3 in Las Piñas. The gunman, Joel Escorial, surrendered on Oct. 17 after his image, caught on surveillance video, was released to the public and a reward put up for his capture.

In the case of Bunduquin, the death of one of the suspects could help lead to the arrest of the one who managed to escape. Failure to bring the killers of journalists to justice has consistently placed the country in the list of the world’s worst and most dangerous places for media workers. The failure has bred impunity and encouraged more attacks on bearers of bad news or critical journalists. Such attacks and various forms of harassment of critical media have in turn allowed crooked and incompetent public officials to continue in their posts.

Last year in the annual report of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Philippines ranked seventh worst in the world in terms of prosecuting journalist killings. From Sept. 1, 2012 to Aug. 31, 2022, the CPJ counted 14 unsolved murders of media workers. Whether or not Bunduquin’s murder was work-related, it must be solved, to prevent impunity from taking deeper root.