Mindanao broadcaster shot dead

Vendiola: 130th journalist killed since 1986

ANOTHER BROADCASTER was shot and killed Monday morning in Barangay Salipyasin, Kabasalan town, Zamboanga Sibugay province.

Mario Vendiola, more popularly known in his radio program as Kuya Mar, was the first journalist to be killed in the country in 2013.

In an emailed media alert, JB Deveza, Mindanao Media Safety Officer of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) reported that Vendiola was shot and killed at around 11:45 Monday morning.

Two unidentified men riding a motorcycle pumped at least four bullets into Vendiola in front of a gas station along the national highway in Barangay Salipyasin, as the latter was on his way home on board his motorcycle. The suspects used a .45 caliber pistol “as evidenced by spent shells recovered by police investigators at the scene of the shooting,” Deveza stated in the alert.

“(He) was hit in the head and died on the spot,” the NUJP alert said.

“We are treating this murder as work-related, unless proven otherwise,” Deveza said. Deveza said the NUJP will do an onsite investigation Tuesday to gather more information on the murder.

Vendiola was an anchorman-reporter of 101.3 FM Radyo Natin Kabasalan. He is the first journalist killed this year and the 12th killed under the Aquino administration. Based on the databank of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), Vendiola is the 130th media practitioner killed in the line of duty since press freedom was restored in 1986.

Investigators are still investigating the possible motives for the murder of Vendiola.