Saturday, January 7, 2012

News Update Gunmen kill journalist in southern Philippines

MANILA (REUTERS) - Gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead a radio commentator and newspaper publisher on his way home late on Thursday in the southern Philippines, the first journalist to be killed in the country this year, a journalists' group said.

Christopher Guarin, 41, a radio talk show host and newspaper publisher in General Santos City, was shot six times in the head and body while driving home with his wife and nine-year-old daughter, according to a statement by Rowena Paraan, executive coordinator of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

His wife was also wounded in the attack and his daughter was in a state of shock after witnessing the murder of her father, said Mr Freddie Solinap, manager of Tatak, a community newspaper where Guarin worked as editor.

'I suspect this has something to do with his business as newspaper publisher and editor,' Mr Solinap told reporters, adding that Guarin had been getting death threats on his mobile phone. 'He even read the threatening messages in his radio programme.'