VIGAN CITY, Philippines?Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot and wounded a radio commentator while he was on his way home from his radio station, in the latest attack on a media person in the world?s deadliest country for journalists.

Eugene Paet, 49, known in Ilocos Sur as Commander Uno of dwRS Commando Radio based in Vigan, was riding his motorcycle on the national highway in Bantay town when two men overtook and shot him at close range at about 7:25 p.m. on Thursday, police said.

Paet was able to run and call for help from residents, who rushed him to the hospital. He survived a four-hour operation to remove slugs from his body.

The shooting was the second attack on a Filipino journalist since the Nov. 23 Maguindanao massacre, when gunmen allegedly supporting the powerful Ampatuan clan slaughtered 57 people, including at least 30 media workers and relatives of a rival family.

On Christmas Eve, another radio commentator was shot dead in Zamboanga del Norte.

Paet?s son

Paet was first employed by Bombo Radyo-Vigan in the 1980s before transferring to dwRS, which is owned by Rep. Ronald Singson, son of Deputy National Security Adviser Luis ?Chavit? Singson, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

An NUJP statement said that Paet?s son, Eugene Jr., ?believes someone wants to silence his father because he said he could think of no one who bears any personal grudge against him, except those that might have been irked (by) his commentaries (on) radio.?

Police investigators recovered empty shells of a .45 cal. pistol. The area where he was shot was a few meters from the provincial police office.

Senior Supt. Eduardo Dupale, Ilocos Sur police director, said they had yet to determine whether the shooting was connected to Paet?s work.

3 angles

Investigators said they were looking into several angles, including the possibility that Paet was shot over work-related matters, an old grudge or for personal reasons.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said 32 journalists were killed in the Philippines in 2009, making it the world?s deadliest country for journalists last year.

Arlon Serdenia, NUJP head in Ilocos Sur, condemned the shooting of Paet.

Stand firm

He asked the police to arrest the perpetrators and called on local media people to ?stand firm and be united in the face of these growing threats.?

?We also demand an accounting from the government for its failure to protect and defend our rights not only as media persons but as citizens,? he added.

Investigative stories about drug trafficking, gambling, corruption and other illegal activities involving officials in the Philippines often put reporters at risk.

Corruption in media

Corruption in the media, with underpaid journalists sometimes taking bribes to report stories, also places reporters in danger from disgruntled paymasters or their rivals, according to Reuters news agency.

Under fire from local and international human rights groups for its failure to protect hundreds of journalists and left-wing activists killed over the past eight years, the government has vowed to track down killers of reporters but there have been few convictions. With reports from Frank Cimatu, Inquirer Northern Luzon; AFP; and Reuters