(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders is shocked by an attempt to murder “Radyo Ukay” presenter Ronaldo Doong near Digos City, on the southern island of Mindanao, on 28 February 2009. Doong and a friend were heading to Digos City from Magsaysay on a motorcycle when two apparent hit men on another motorcycle blocked their way […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders is shocked by an attempt to murder “Radyo Ukay” presenter Ronaldo Doong near Digos City, on the southern island of Mindanao, on 28 February 2009. Doong and a friend were heading to Digos City from Magsaysay on a motorcycle when two apparent hit men on another motorcycle blocked their way and aimed a gun at them.
Doong said one of the men pressed the trigger three times but the gun failed to go off. He then gave their motorcycle a kick, causing them to fall to the ground. Doong and his friend were hospitalised.
Doong did not know his assailants but he is convinced they intended to kill him. “They told me I had upset people with my comments but they did not say who the people were,” he said. In his radio programme, Doong openly supports a local politician.
Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the constant violence against journalists in the Philippines, especially radio presenters in the provinces. “We urge the government to do its duty and to assign more resources to investigating murders and attacks on journalists. Arresting and trying the perpetrators and instigators is the only way to stop the violence.”
The attempt to kill Doong came just five days after the murder of radio DxSY-AM presenter Ernesto Rollin, who received a great deal of praise when he was buried on 28 February. Friends and colleagues attending the funeral wore black T-shirts in protest against his murder while some carried placards saying “Justice for Ernesto Rollin.”
Badrodin Abas, who presented a programme for an NGO on radio DxCM in Cotabato City, was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle on 21 January.
For further information the Rollin case, see: http://ifex.org/en/content/view/full/101039
