(CMFR/IFEX) – Radio broadcaster Nelson Nadura was murdered in Masbate, 250 kilometres from Manila, on 2 December 2003. He was the seventh journalist killed this year in the Philippines. CMFR notes that this is the worst recorded number of journalists killed in the Philippines, surpassing the record of six in 1987. Nadura was shot by […]
(CMFR/IFEX) – Radio broadcaster Nelson Nadura was murdered in Masbate, 250 kilometres from Manila, on 2 December 2003. He was the seventh journalist killed this year in the Philippines. CMFR notes that this is the worst recorded number of journalists killed in the Philippines, surpassing the record of six in 1987.
Nadura was shot by two unidentified men at approximately 8:35 a.m. (local time), according to DYME radio station manager Chang Enciso. Nadura was a “blocktimer” at the station. (Blocktimers buy air time from radio stations for their own programmes and are not station employees.) His regular morning commentary programme had aired from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., prior to the attack.
In a telephone interview with CMFR, Enciso said Nadura was on his way to the city centre on his motorcycle when the suspects attacked him, approximately one kilometre from the station.
Enciso said the motive for the killing is not yet known, but police are examining the possibility that Nadura may have been targeted because of his past affiliation with the New People’s Army (NPA), a Communist-led guerilla group that has been fighting the government since 1969. Enciso said the police would soon release sketches of the suspects based on eyewitness accounts.
