Philippines: Mario Sy is the third journalist killed in two days, following the murders of Bonifacio Loreto and Richard Kho
Three journalists have been killed in the Philippines in the span of two days, making it the country’s worst run of media killings in nearly four years.
Image/CIA
The latest victim, freelance news photographer Mario Sy, was killed in front of his wife and child late on Thursday by two suspects who broke into his home in the southern city of General Santos, police said.
Sy, 53, contributed to several local papers in General Santos City, Sapol News among them. The motive for the killing remains unclear.
“We urge investigators not to neglect the possibility that these journalists were killed in connection with his work, and we urge the authorities to put all the necessary resources at their disposal, so that they can identify those responsible for these cold-blooded murders and bring them so justice
“If suspicions are confirmed, Sy’s death brings to six the number of journalists killed in connection with their work so far this year in the Philippines. This puts it among the world’s deadliest countries for media personnel, alongside Syria and Pakistan. This is unacceptable. Impunity breeds more violence, which will only be stopped by exemplary punishments,” according to Reporters without Borders.
Earlier this week, Bonifacio Loreto and Richard Kho, newspaper columnists for the now defunct Aksyon Ngayon (Action Today) Newspaper were gunned down by two unknown gunmen who fled the scene.
Authorities said the two victims were having a conversation outside a small sari-sari (convenience) store owned by Loreto, when the gunmen fired shots at them at close range. The victims sustained gunshot wounds to the head, neck and chest.
Kho wrote “Clear Shots” and Loreto “Bicol Express,” columns that were said to tackle political issues, until “Aksyon Ngayon” folded up in March this year, according to the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP).
If proven to be work-related Sy would be the 158th media practitioner murdered in the country since 1986 and the 18th since President Benigno Aquino III came to office in 2010, the NUJP said.
