Media groups and activists in the Philippines condemn the recent assassination of a Filipino journalist, stressing the murder was an attack on press freedom. Radio announcer, Percival Mabasa, 63, was shot dead while driving in the country’s capital of Manila, according to police reports on Tuesday. Mabasa was killed by two assailants at the gate of a residential compound in Las Pinas on Monday night.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines was quoted saying that the incident showed how the brazen act by perpetrators was indicative of the authorities’ inability to protect journalists and the public. Rights group Karapatan described the victim as “one of the country’s fiercest truth-tellers”.
Mabasa’s YouTube channel featured videos of the victim’s critical stance on the previous president, as well as several policies and officials in incumbent Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s administration.
The Philippines has one of Asia’s most liberal media and most unsafe for journalists to practice the profession, especially for journalists covering the provinces. At least 187 have been killed in the past 35 years in the country according to international watchdog Reporters Without Borders, including 32 who were killed in a single incident in 2009.