Radio journalist Cresencio “Cris” Bunduquin was shot dead early Wednesday morning by two gunmen on a motorcycle as he was leaving his home in Calapan City, the capital of the central province of Oriental Mindoro in Philippines.
Bunduquin, 50, was the host of “Batita at Talakayan,” a show on y DWXR 101.7FM and online radio MUX.
Agence France-Presse quoted DWXR manager Jester Joaquin as saying Bunduquin was a “hard-hitting” journalist who recently told him he had received death threats in connection with his work and wanted a change in hisline of work.
In his latest shows, Bunduquin had denounced cases of local political corruption, the province’s illegal betting mafia and, the circumstances surrounding last February’s nearby oil spill from the Princess Empress, a 50-year-old tanker whose operating permit had reportedly been forged.
He is the third journalist to be killed since President Ferdinand Marcos took office last June.
Percy Lapid, the host of a show on Radio DWBL, was ambushed and killed by two shots fired at point-blank range by a gunman outside him home in the Manila suburb of Las Piñas last October.
With an average of three or four journalists murdered every year, the Philippines is ranked 147th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2022 World Press Freedom Index.
It is ranked seventh on CPJ’s most recent Impunity Index, which spotlights countries worldwide where journalists are slain and the killers go free.
Since 1986, there have been 198 journalists killed in the Philippines, based on the data and monitoring from the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).
“The senseless killing of radio reporter Cris Bundoquin shows that those who attack journalists remain undeterred under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s one-year-old government,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Until the Philippine government shows it is serious about ending impunity in media murders, such killings will likely continue.”
“Everything indicates that Cris Bunduquin was murdered in reprisal for his journalistic comments. This shocking killing must not go unpunished, and we call on the Oriental Mindoro provincial prosecutor’s office to do everything possible to identify the perpetrators and, above all, the instigators and bring them before a judge. The vicious circle of impunity for crimes of violence against journalists must be broken,” said Daniel Bastard, Head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.
“Bunduquin’s killing further shows that journalists in the Philippines still operate under threat despite our improvement in the press freedom index and the relatively friendlier relations that media has with the current administration,” said Jonathan de Santos, chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.