(CMFR/IFEX) – Late in the afternoon on 3 July 2005, Rolando Morales, a local radio commentator in southern Philippines, was brutally killed after suffering 15 gunshot wounds in an attack in southwestern Mindanao. Morales, 43, had just finished hosting his Sunday programme at a local radio station when eight unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen ambushed him along […]
(CMFR/IFEX) – Late in the afternoon on 3 July 2005, Rolando Morales, a local radio commentator in southern Philippines, was brutally killed after suffering 15 gunshot wounds in an attack in southwestern Mindanao. Morales, 43, had just finished hosting his Sunday programme at a local radio station when eight unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen ambushed him along a highway in General Santos City, more than 600 kilometers south of Manila.
Witnesses said that after the ambush, the assailants surrounded the fallen Morales, who had also been riding a motorcycle, and repeatedly fired another round at the victim to ensure that he would be killed. The journalist was rushed to hospital but pronounced dead-on-arrival.
For the last two years, Morales had been hosting the “Voice of the Barangay” programme, broadcast in Cebuano on Radio Mindanao Network’s dxMD station. Before joining the radio station in 2003, he had been an inspector for a local pineapple plantation and a high-ranking village official. A father of four, Morales also served on the local anti-crime task force, through which he became aware of some illegal drug-related activities. He sometimes exposed these cases in his radio programme, said dxMD station manager Alex Josol. According to a report by ABS-CBNNews.com, Morales also reportedly accused several barangay (village) officials in General Santos City of involvement in summary executions.
Morales is the fifth journalist to be killed in the Philippines in 2005, possibly for reasons related to his work. With barely half of the year gone, this suggests that 2005 will be another dangerous, and perhaps even bloodier, year for local reporters. Six journalists were killed in the line of duty in 2004, while seven were murdered in 2003. Morales is also the third journalist to be killed in Mindanao this year, following the murders of columnist Marlene Esperat and blocktimer Klein Cantoneros, in a little over three months. Morales’s murder puts General Santos City further atop as the country’s most dangerous city for local journalists, with six casualties (54 overall), since the restoration of democracy in 1986. Other media persons murdered in General Santos City were broadcasters Elpidio Binoya (slain 17 June 2004), Dominador Bentulan (30 October 1998), Odillon Mallari (15 February 1998), scribe Jean Ladringan (slain 08 July 1990), and Atty. Florante de Castro (1986).
