President calls for the creation of a task force to intensify investigations into killings of media members
Apolinario Suan of Real FM, who was elected board member of Surigao del Sur, sustained gunshot wounds in his right forearm and right leg when unidentified gunmen attacked him while he was aboard a Toyota Land Cruiser with his security escorts, on the national highway in San Vicente village, Bislig City, Surigao on July 14, said Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar in a belated report on Saturday.
Manila: A broadcast journalist escaped an assassination attempt in southern Philippines, prompting President Rodrigo Duterte to call for the creation of a task force to intensify investigations into killings of media members, a government official said.
Apolinario Suan of Real FM, who was elected board member of Surigao del Sur, sustained gunshot wounds in his right forearm and right leg when unidentified gunmen attacked him while he was aboard a Toyota Land Cruiser with his security escorts, on the national highway in San Vicente village, Bislig City, Surigao on July 14, said Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar in a belated report on Saturday.
He was in stable condition. One of his escorts, Dodong Suan died, said Andanar.
“Media violence and killing must end. The President has already ordered the creation of a Task Force on Media Killings,” said Andanar, adding the Presidential Communications Office, together with the office of the executive secretary are drafting an administrative order to define the parameters of the proposed Presidential task force.
“We hope to submit it to the desk of the president before his State of the Nation Address,” said Andanar, adding, “I sympathize with the family of the victim and urge local police to speed up investigations to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
The incident brought to two the number of journalists who escaped assassination attacks this year.
Broadcast journalist Saturnino “Jan” Estanio and his 12-year old son escaped assassination attempts by two unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen in the southern Philippines last June 30. Estanio was declared in a stable condition after driving himself and his son to a hospital.
An anchor for a public-affairs segment on Radio Mindanao Network, the country’s largest radio network, Estancio had criticized illegal gambling, illicit drugs, and alleged corruption in local government agencies before the attack
About 195 journalists were killed from 1986 to May 2016. Ten suspected killers were convicted for killing journalists across the country since 1986.
A powerful Filipino-Muslim warlord who tried to stop another Filipino-Muslim rival in November 2009 ahead of the 2010 elections, massacred 58 people including 32 journalists. More than one hundred people are on trial for the massacre.
Duterte was criticised earlier for having said that some of the killed reporters were also corrupt. Policemen have also said that reporters were killed because of personal and business rivalries.
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