Philippines: Surigao del Sur broadcaster, Michael Diaz Milo, shot dead; second journalist killed in a week
For the second time in just a week, a Filipino radio broadcast journalist has been shot and killed, according to the Philippines News Agency today.
Prime FM national supervisor Michael Diaz Milo, 34, host of a daily radio show and a program director of DXFM radio, was shot dead in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur, according to police reports.
The Inquirer reports that Milo was driving his motorcycle along Palmera, Mabua village, Tandag City when he was shot by three unidentified men, also onboard a motorcycle, at 4:30 p.m. last Friday.
The tragic and untimely death of Milo comes just a weeks after another broadcaster, Joas Dignos, was also shot dead by motorcycle gunmen in Valencia town, Bukidnon, Mindanao.
The killings have prompted a response from Malacanang, who condemns the murders and say a police task force was already created to hunt down the perpetrators.
Palace Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a radio interview Sunday that Surigao del Sur police are currently pursuing the killers of Milo and a special investigation task group was created by the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the immediate conclusion of the case.
The AFP reports the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ranks the Philippines as the third-worst in its “impunity index” of countries that fail to fight violence against the press.
The CPJ said at least 72 journalists had been murdered since 1992, not counting the cases of Dignos and Milo.
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