A radio journalist has been shot dead in the northern Philippines in the second such killing this week. The Philippines is one of the world's most dangerous countries for the media, the Radio France International said.
Lito Agustin, who hosted a program on local radio station dzJC, was ambushed by two men as he and his nephew rode a motorbike in Laoag city late Tuesday, city police chief Superintendent Sterling Blanco said.
Agustin, 37, was killed in a volley of gunfire but his companion was unhurt. The identity of the attackers was not yet known.
Agustin reportedly survived another attack three days before 10 May national elections, when unknown gunmen opened fire on his home in nearby Bacarra town.
Andy Vital, news director for the station's parent outfit Manila Broadcasting, told AFP that Agustin may have been killed to silence him.
"Agustin has been vocal in criticizing graft and corruption in Bacarra," Vital said.
The Laoag shooting was the second attack on a member of the press in the Philippines this week.
Another outspoken radio journalist, Desidario Camangyan, 52, was shot dead while hosting a village singing contest in the southern Philippines on Monday.
He was well known for speaking out against powerful groups involved in illegal logging in and around the southern city of Mati.
Camangon and Agustin were the third and fourth Filipino journalists killed this year, while another journalist was wounded in an attack.
Thirty-three journalists have been killed in the Philippines in 2009, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
More than 100 have been killed since President Gloria Arroyo came to power in 2001.
The attackers are rarely caught or punished, and journalists say this culture of impunity is another factor in the high murder rate.(RFI)
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