Longtime radio broadcaster died in the latest assault on a journalist in the Philippines, one of the most hazardous places in the world for journalists, by motorcycle-riding gunmen. Percival Mabasa, 63, was shot twice in the head in the suburb of Las Pinas City on Monday night while he was operating his car, according to the police.
According to police authorities, the assailants ran away, and an inquiry is being conducted to identify and find them. They said that investigators are attempting to ascertain the attack’s purpose.
The previous president Rodrigo Duterte, who conducted a deadly war on illicit drugs, and his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of a tyrant who was overthrown in a pro-democracy rebellion in 1986, were both criticized by Mabasa, who went by the broadcast name Percy Lapid.
Media watchdogs denounced Mabasa’s murder, stating that the incident demonstrated how dangerous the Philippines is for journalists.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines stated in a statement that the fact that the event occurred in Metro Manila “indicates how brazen the offenders were and how authorities have failed to safeguard journalists as well as regular civilians from danger.”
The incident “bears all the characteristics of an extrajudicial killing and an effort to stifle voices critical of the government,” according to Amnesty International.
The relatives of the victim criticized the “brutal and blatant homicide” and urged that those responsible be brought to justice.
Mabasa is the second journalist to die since the June election of Marcos Jr. Rey Blanco, a radio host, was fatally stabbed last month in the center of the province of Negros Oriental. The suspect turned himself in to police right away.
According to the journalists’ organization, since Marcos Sr. was ousted in 1986, there have been close to 200 murders of journalists in the Philippines. The organization organized a demonstration on Tuesday night and urged the administration to take more action to halt journalist killings.
58 persons were slain in an execution-style assault in the southern Maguindanao province in 2009 by members of a strong political clan and their men, including 32 media personnel. The atrocity outraged the whole globe.
The widespread murder, which was related to a political dispute, highlighted the hazards to journalists in the Philippines, where there are numerous unlicensed firearms, clandestine armies under the influence of strong families, and lax law enforcement, particularly in rural areas.