Radio commentator shot dead in Gingoog City

(Update) ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – A radio broadcaster was fatally shot by a motorcycle gunman in an attack Monday in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental, a radio report said. In its report, local radio dxRS Radyo Natin said Aristeo Padrigao, a commentator at the dxRS Radyo Natin station in Gingoog City, was shot to the face by the gunman at around 7:15 a.m. Monday, shortly after bringing his daughter to school. The assailant, who was wearing a crash helmet, escaped after the attack. The motive of the killing is still unknown and media groups have condemned the killing. Padrigao, a hard-hitting commentator who regularly criticized corruption in his radio program, was the 54th journalist killed in the Philippines the past years. He was the seventh journalist murdered since January. In August, a radio and newspaper journalist, Ronaldo Julia, was also shot several times in Magarao town in Camarines Sur province in eastern Philippines. Julia was walking toward the Magarao town plaza close to his home when he was shot by an assailant, who escaped on a motorcycle driven by another man. Julia was a reporter for dzGE radio and the Weekly Informer owned by his older brother, Mike Julia, in Magarao in Camarines Sur province, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) east of Manila. The Manila-based Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) said the Philippines has become the "most dangerous place for journalists next to Iraq and the most murderous place in the world for journalists." - Al Jacinto, GMANews.TV