A policeman checks on the world the place a radio anchor was fatally shot by a person inside his home-based station on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023, on this handout photograph offered by the Calamba Municipal Police Station. The brazen assault was witnessed by folks watching this system reside on Facebook.

Calamba Municipal Police Station/by way of AP

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Calamba Municipal Police Station/by way of AP

A policeman checks on the world the place a radio anchor was fatally shot by a person inside his home-based station on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023, on this handout photograph offered by the Calamba Municipal Police Station. The brazen assault was witnessed by folks watching this system reside on Facebook.

Calamba Municipal Police Station/by way of AP

MANILA, Philippines — A radio anchor was fatally shot by a person inside his southern Philippine station Sunday in a brazen assault that was witnessed by folks watching this system reside on Facebook.

The gunman gained entry into the home-based radio station of provincial information broadcaster Juan Jumalon by pretending to be a listener. He then shot him twice throughout a reside morning broadcast in Calamba city in Misamis Occidental province, police stated.

The attacker snatched the sufferer’s gold necklace earlier than fleeing with a companion, who waited exterior Jumalon’s home, onboard a bike, police stated. An investigation was underway to determine the gunman and set up if the assault was work-related.

The Philippines has lengthy been considered probably the most harmful locations for journalists on the planet.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. strongly condemned the capturing and stated he ordered the nationwide police to trace down, arrest and prosecute the killers.

“Attacks on journalists will not be tolerated in our democracy and those who threaten the freedom of the press will face the full consequences of their actions,” Marcos stated in an announcement.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, a press freedom watchdog, stated Jumalon was the 199th journalist to be killed within the nation since 1986, when democracy returned after a “People Power” rebellion toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the daddy of the present president, and compelled him and his household into U.S. exile.

“The attack is even more condemnable since it happened at Jumalon’s own home, which also served as the radio station,” the watchdog stated.

A video of the assault reveals the bespectacled Jumalon, 57, pausing and searching upward at one thing away from the digicam earlier than two photographs rang out. He slumped again bloodied in his chair as a background music performed on. He was pronounced lifeless on the way in which to a hospital.

The attacker was not seen on the Facebook livestream however police stated they had been checking if safety cameras put in in the home and at his neighbors recorded something.

In 2009, members of a strong political clan and their associates gunned down 58 folks, together with 32 media staff, in a brazen execution-style assault in southern Maguindanao province. It was the deadliest single assault on journalists in current historical past.

While the mass killing was later linked to a violent electoral rivalry frequent in lots of rural areas, it additionally showcased the threats confronted by journalists within the Philippines. A surfeit of unlicensed weapons and personal armies managed by highly effective clans and weak regulation enforcement in rural areas are among the many safety issues journalists face within the poverty-stricken Southeast Asian nation.