Eduardo Dizon, a news anchor and former manager of 97.5 Brigada News FM, Kidapawan, Philippines, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen last Wednesday.
According to a National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) report, Dizon was driving home after hosting his ‘Tira Brigada’ program when two men on a motorcycle opened fire on him. He died after being shot five times.
The attack took place a day after Florante Formento – another Brigada News Station Manager in the neighbouring Cotabato City, was hit by a plastic bag filled with human waste.
58-year old Dizon, who made an unsuccessful run for a local legislative election in May, had also filed a complaint about receiving death threats.
In a statement, Brigada Group – the company that owns the station, said that it thought Dizon’s murder was the result of “his relentless exposé against unscrupulous individuals and organizations involved in illegal undertakings” in the Kidapawan region.
Apparently referring to Dizon, a message left on the radio station’s hotline last week said: “Watch out Brigada because you will die, just wait, someone will shoot you.”
Dizon was reportedly getting threats for his commentaries against the KAPA investment scheme founded by Pastor Joel Apolinario in General Santos City.
The KAPA investment scheme was ordered shut down by President Duterte three weeks ago and is now subject of judicial litigation.
“Eduardo Dizon is the 13th journalist to be gunned down in the Philippines since Rodrigo Duterte became president,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of Reporters Without Borders’ Asia-Pacific desk. “It is time to end this unacceptable cycle of violence against media personnel. The government claims to have set up a ‘presidential task force on media security’ but this task force has produced virtually no results. The investigation into Eduardo Dizon’s murder will be seen as a test. The impunity must stop.”
Since 1992, at least 80 journalists have been killed in the Philippines, with 66 of the victims murdered with impunity, according to latest data from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Philippines is ranked 134th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom Index.