ZAMBOANGA CITY, 13 April 2005 — A radio broadcaster in the southern Philippines had been critically injured in the latest attack on journalists in the Philippines, authorities said yesterday.

Alberto Martinez, who works for the Radyo Natin station, was shot in the back late on Sunday in the town of Kabacan, North Cotabato province, about 910 kilometers (565 miles) southeast of Manila, police said.

Police Inspector Alberto Jungaya said the victim was on his way home from work when he was shot by an unidentified gunman in village of Osias. He was rushed to a hospital by villagers and was in stable condition.

Investigators and media groups said the murder attempt could be related to Martinez’s work as a journalist. They said he had received threats from unidentified people, but refused to elaborate.

The 46-year-old Martinez, also a Protestant pastor, is reputed to be a hard-hitting community radio broadcaster.

Last month, newspaper columnist Marlene Esperat became the third Filipino journalist killed this year.

Thirteen journalists were killed here last year alone, giving the Philippines the dubious distinction as the world’s second-deadliest place for media after Iraq.

The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists has blamed the killings on a widespread culture of violence, often condoned by government officials.

The group said that out of 66 journalists killed in the country since democracy was restored in 1986, only one case has been successfully prosecuted.

Wrong Suspects

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that contrary to the claim of the Central Mindanao police, the case of Marlene Esperat is far from solved.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez told reporters there could be an entirely new set of people behind the killing of Esperat other than the four men earlier tagged by police and the National Bureau of Investigation.

“Our prosecutor in Sultan Kudarat said they had gotten an extrajudicial confession from a suspect who recruited the four arrested for the killing of Esperat,” Gonzalez said, adding that a Department of Agriculture (DA) “budget officer” and another unnamed employee were the possible masterminds.

Esperat’s alleged assassins were presented to the media yesterday at Camp Crame national police headquarters in Quezon City.

Chief Superintendent Antonio Billones, head of the Central Mindanao Police, personally accompanied them on Philippine Airlines flight PR 454 from General Santos City, which arrived at the Centennial Terminal shortly after noon.

Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes identified the gunman as Jerry Cabayag. He said the two men who had earlier surrendered to authorities and led investigators to the other suspects — Estanislao Vismanos Jr. and Randy Grecia — served as lookouts.

He said it was Rowie Barua, a soldier, who had hired the other three and who had given them the money.

Quoting Grecia, NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco had named Sumail Sekkak, a former DA regional director in Central Mindanao, as being behind Esperat’s murder.

But Philippine National Police Director General Arturo Lomibao neither confirmed nor denied this, saying the NBI was not part of the investigation. “The participation of the NBI is in the autopsy,” Lomibao said. “They were not part of the investigation. So I do not know where that NBI officer or personnel got that information.”

Even Gonzalez said he had “reservations” about police statements naming Sekkak as the mastermind.

“Our state prosecutor says it’s not Sekkak,” he said, adding that the one who had tagged Sekkak was only a lookout.