Investigators could not immediately establish the motive behind the attack on Nestor Bedolido, who was shot six times with a pistol outside his karaoke pub in Digos city in Davao del Sur province late Saturday, police said.
Political and media killings are common in the Philippines, where 57 supporters of a gubernatorial candidate in Maguindanao province were massacred last year in the country's worst election-related violence. Of that group, at least 30 were journalists.
"The gunman shot him in front of people then just walked away," provincial police chief Roland dela Rosa said. "It was so brazen."
A son of the victim, Marxlen Bedolido, told a local radio that his killing maybe linked to local politics.
Bedolido backed a losing gubernatorial candidate in last month's elections. He also used to edit a weekly magazine that supported and was published by a local politician.
A media watchdog, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said it was concerned over the killing of 58-year-old Bedolido.
Two radio broadcasters were separately gunned down earlier this month, heightening concern over attacks on journalists.
The watchdog said more than 100 journalists and media workers have been killed in the nine years under outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, sullying the image of the Philippines, which prides itself on having among the freest media in Southeast Asia.
Attacks on the press. (excerpts from annual report of worldwide attacks on journalists by New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists): An article from: American Journalism Review
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPOINTS SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO INVESTIGATE ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS.: An article from: SourceMex Economic News & Analysis on Mexico
