By CARLOS H. CONDE
The New York Times
Published: June 20, 2010
MANILA — Less than a week after the successive killings of two radio broadcasters, a reporter for a newspaper in the southern Philippines was shot dead on Saturday evening, officials and colleagues said on Sunday.
Nestor Bedolido, a reporter for the weekly tabloid The Kastigador in Digos City, was buying cigarettes from a roadside vendor when a gunman approached and shot him six times.
Mr. Padua said they were still trying to determine the motive for the killing.
Mr. Bedolido’s killing brought to 140 the number of Filipino journalists killed since democracy was restored in the Philippines in 1986. Of that number, 107 occurred in the last nine years, during the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who will leave office on June 30.
“The suspect casually walked toward a waiting motorcycle driven by another unidentified man,” said Anthony Padua, a local police officer, according to The Philippine Daily Inquirer, a Manila newspaper. Mr. Padua said Mr. Bedolido died on the way to the hospital.
According to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Mr. Bedolido had been known in Digos City as quite critical of a local politician and had been a supporter of a rival politician during the recent elections.
Last Wednesday, Jovelito Agustin, a broadcaster for DZJC Aksyon Radio in Laoag City, in the north, was shot and killed while on his way home.
Less than 24 hours before Mr. Agustin’s death, Desiderio Camangyan, a radio commentator known for his searing criticism of corruption and illegal logging, was gunned down onstage while emceeing an amateur singing contest.
In a statement on Sunday, the National Union of Journalists denounced the recent killings and called on the incoming president, Benigno S. Aquino III, to end what it called “the culture of impunity.”
“Ending the killings of journalists and resolving past cases will be a litmus test of how seriously Benigno Aquino III considers his promise of good governance,” the union said.
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