Local Filipino broadcaster and radio station owner Juan Jumalon was shot dead while he was on air in his radio station booth in Misamis Occidental province in the Philippine island of Mindanao on early Sunday morning (November 5), local time (late Saturday night UTC, November 4).
The presenter, known on-air as DJ Johnny Walker, was on board his Sunday (Nov. 5) program when a lone gunman entered the booth of the local radio station 94.7 Calamba Gold FM, which also happened to be located in his own home.
How Jumalon was Shot
According to the Philippine National Police (PNP), the gunman shot Jumalon through his mouth and exited at the back of his head.
PNP regional director BGen. Ricardo Layug Jr. stated that the broadcaster was shot twice in the face and died at the scene.
CCTV footage retrieved by police showed the gunman taking the gold necklace off of Jumalon before leaving the scene. A second gunman was also caught on camera holding the station's security staff at gunpoint.
Jumalon was still taken to hospital but was later pronounced dead.
Police say investigations are ongoing, Inquirer.net reported.
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Condemnation from Journalists, Officials
The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) quickly condemned the murder of Jumalon, with NUJP chair Jonathan de Santos making the murder the 199th since the restoration of democracy in 1986 and the fourth since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed the country's presidency.
What made the attack even more condemnable was that the shooting murder happened inside Jumalon's own home, de Santos added.
Meanwhile, Marcos said in a statement that he condemned Jumalon's murder, saying that "senseless attacks against journalists" do not have a place in his country. He also ordered the police to thoroughly investigate the motive and apprehend the gunmen, who, as of Sunday, are still at large.
The fatal attack occurred during the same week as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, according to Philstar Global.
The Philippines ranked eighth in the 2023 Global Impunity Index by the New York-based media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists, which the NUJP called a "small comfort" as it fell by one place from last year's seventh-place ranking.
Meanwhile, the World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked the Philippines 132nd out of 180 countries, noting that the country remained a "difficult" country for media workers.
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