A radio broadcaster was fatally shot inside his studio in the Philippines on Sunday, November 5, in a brazen attack that was witnessed by people watching the program live on Facebook. It is the latest in a long list of journalists killed in the country.
Juan Jumalon, 57, was in his home-based studio on the southern island of Mindanao when a gunman shot him in the head, said Captain Deore Ragonio, police chief in Calamba municipality.
Jumalon is the fourth journalist to be slain since President Ferdinand Marcos took office in June of 2022, the National Union of Journalists said, condemning "the brazen killing". The archipelago nation is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, and their killers often go unpunished. Radio broadcasters outside the capital are frequently the target.
"The attack is even more condemnable since it happened at Jumalon’s own home, which also served as the radio station," the union said.
Marcos condemned the "murder" of Jumalon and ordered the authorities to "swiftly bring the perpetrators to justice". "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 said in a post on social media.
Police said the suspect gained entry to Jumalon's studio by pretending to want to make an on-air announcement. He escaped and Jumalon was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.
The attack was recorded on video, said Paul Gutierrez, the head of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security. One video of the attack shows the bespectacled Jumalon, 57, pausing and looking upward at something away from the camera before two shots rang out. He slumped back bloodied in his chair as background music played on. He was pronounced dead on the way to a hospital.
The attacker snatched the victim’s gold necklace before fleeing with a companion, who waited outside Jumalon’s house, onboard a motorcycle, Gutierrez said. "While the motive is yet to be determined, we consider this incident as 'work-related' for the moment," Gutierrez said in a statement.
Police chief Ragonio said they were investigating a motive for the killing. They were not aware of any previous threats against Jumalon's life. "He tackles mostly current events and is not known to have criticized anyone in his broadcasts," Ragonio told AFP.
Jumalon used the name "DJ Johnny Walker" in his Cebuano-language show at the 94.7 Gold FM Calamba station. His broadcasts were also aired on the station's Facebook page, which has 2,400 followers.
In 2009, members of a powerful political clan and their associates gunned down 58 people, including 32 media workers, in a brazen execution-style attack in southern Maguindanao province. It was the deadliest single attack on journalists in recent history.
While the mass killing was later linked to a violent electoral rivalry common in many rural areas, it also showcased the threats faced by journalists in the Philippines. A surfeit of unlicensed guns and private armies controlled by powerful clans and weak law enforcement in rural regions are among the security concerns journalists face in the poverty-stricken Southeast Asian country.