A radio commentator was shot dead in Albay province, Philippines, on Monday.
Noel Bellen Samar, 54, a reporter affiliated with local Kadunong iTV and DWIZ, was shot four times by unidentified gunmen while traveling on a bike on the Maharlika Highway.
He was rushed to a local hospital and died the next day after a surgery, confirmed the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS), a state body tasked with investigating media murders.
Samar’s family suspect that the attack may have been work-related due to his reputation as a fearless radio commentator.
In a statement, the PTFOMS condemned the “brazen attack” and announced the creation of a special task force to “ensure a thorough, impartial, and swift investigation.”
Samar is the eighth radio journalist to be killed in the Philippines since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in June 2022.
Since the restoration of democracy in 1986, at least 147 journalists have been killed in the Philippines, and in 2025 the country ranks 116th out of 180 countries in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index and ranked ninth on CPJ’s most recent Impunity Index, a global ranking of countries where journalists’ murderers are most likely to go free.
“Authorities must leave no stone unturned in identifying, capturing, and prosecuting the perpetrators behind the shooting of journalist Noel Bellen Samar,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Until President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration demonstrates that it is serious about ending impunity, these types of wanton attacks on journalists will persist.”
“The brutal murder of Filipino radio journalist Noel Bellen Samar must not go unpunished. We urge the Philippine Department of Justice to conduct a thorough investigation and swiftly identify both the perpetrators and any possible masterminds behind this heinous crime. Given the persistent violence targeting journalists in the Philippines, it is vital that investigators fully consider his professional activities as a potential motive for the attack,” said Cédric Alviani, RSF Asia-Pacific Bureau Director.