Kidapawan radio station manager shot dead

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Gunmen shot dead the Brigada News FM radio station manager here, a day after another station manager from the same network was hit by human waste in nearby Cotabato City.

Eduared Dizon, manager of Brigada News FM-Kidapawan, was shot dead while driving home at around 10:05 p.m. on Wednesday along Maharlika Highway by motorcycle-riding assassins.

Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) recovered five empty shells from a .45 caliber pistol near the victim’s vehicle.

Dizon, a former town councilor of nearby Makilala, Cotabato, was making a right turn when he was shot near a school.

Col. Maximo Layugan,  Cotabato provincial police director, said pursuit operations against the killers have been launched.

CCTV footages in the area are also being reviewed.

Dizon, who anchored a commentary program in the same station, was the 14th journalist killed under the current administration.

“We are saddened by the death of Dizon. We condemn such kind of killing,” the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines – Kidapawan chapter said in statement.

On December 28 last year, while on his way home, unidentified gunmen shot dead Gabriel Alburo, 50, a radio announcer in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental.

Since 1992, at least 80 journalists have been killed in the Philippines, with 66 of the victims murdered with impunity, according to latest data from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

In Cotabato City, Brigada News FM-Cotabato station manager and Cotabato City Councilor Florante Formento was hit by a plastic bag filled with human waste at about 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 9. /gsg