MANILA, Philippines - Amid a continued clamor for an increased protection for journalists against violence, another broadcaster was killed by motorcycle riding gunmen in Sariaya town, Quezon Monday.
In a report, Senior Superintendent Fidel Posadas, Quezon police director, said Robert "Bert" Sison was gunned down by two assailants riding in tandem past 5 p.m. Monday while he was on his way home.
Sison, 60, hosted a program that airs over radio DZAT and a correspondent of the weekly newspaper "Regional Bulletin" based in Lucena City.
Posadas said the victim who was on board their family car along with his two daughters - Almira, 24, and Liwayway, 30 - and was on on his way home when the assailants opened fire at the vehicle while in the vicinity of Brgy. Lutukan which was several kilometers away from their house.
"This is a hate-crime. After overtaking the car, the suspects opened fire and when it stopped, one of them approached the car and peppered it with bullets. Clearly, the suspects were very angry at Sison," Posadas said.
Police said Sison sustained nnine gunshot wounds to his body while his daughter Liwayway, was hit in the right arm after she ran away from the car to save herself.Posadas said the Sison instinctively covered Almira who was seated beside him and took most of the shots fired by the gunmen. Almira emerged unscathed from the incident.
Posadas said he had already formed a task force under Quezon deputy for operation, Superintendent Eduardo Somera, to handle the investigation.
For his part, Somera said investigators have started meeting with Sison's colleagues to determine possible motives in the killing.
"I am also meeting with Quezon journalists to gather additional facts that can help us solve this crime," Somera said.The National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) immediately condemned the attack saying the incident came shortly after a court decision dismissing the case filed against policemen who hauled journalists covering the Manila Peninsula siege in Makati City.
“Coming as it did in the wake of the dismissal of the Makati Regional Trial Court of the complaint we filed against the policemen who hauled to jail the mediamen who covered the Manila Peninsula siege last November, the killing of Sison is another brutal reminder that Filipino journalists have much to be worried about as they carried on the risky job of bringing the truth to our people," said NPC president Benny Antiporda.
Antiporda said while the formation of the task force to investigate the latest media killing is “laudable," it hardly brings comfort to Sison’s family or in the ranks of the country’s journalists.
“Only the quick apprehension of the suspects and the uncovering of the mastermind behind this attack can assure us that the government is committed to protecting journalists and that it is serious in removing the ‘culture of impunity’ that has emboldened those with gripes against the media to settle their differences in a violent manner," Antiporda added.
He further noted that the attack was the second in Quezon province since last year when Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent Delfin Mallari and DZMM correspondent Johnny Glorioso, escaped assassination during an attack last April 19, 2007, in Lucena City. (GMANews.TV)
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