ZAMBOANGA CITY, 20 July 2006 — Police are investigating a man who claimed to have gunned down a hard-hitting broadcaster in the southern Philippine city of Digos, officials said yesterday.
The man was taken for questioning after his neighbors informed the police that he bragged about how he killed the 51-year-old Armando Pace at around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, police officer Bimbo Labajo told the Arab News by phone from Digos.
Police said Pace was heading for home on a motorcycle when two gunmen ambushed him. The motive of the killing was unknown.
Media reports from Digos in the eastern part of Mindanao Island said a second man was also arrested after the motorcycle used in the killing of Pace was traced to him.
Pace was the 3rd journalist to be killed in the country a month’s span and the 9th this year.
Gunmen also shot and killed George Vigo, a correspondent for the Union of Catholic Asian News, and his wife, Macel Alave-Vigo, also a broadcaster, on June 19 in the nearby city of Kidapawan.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said at least 45 journalists have been murdered in the country since 2001, when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came to power.
He was the 82nd victim since 1986, when democracy was restored in the Philippines through a “people power revolt.”
The Philippines now ranks second to Iraq on the list of deadliest countries for journalists in 2005, according to international media group Reporters without Borders.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) yesterday condemned the murder. “Philippine authorities must bring the murderers of journalists to justice, or the killings will continue,” said Joel Simon, CPJ executive director.
