Two gunmen shot dead a husband-and-wife team of radio political commentators in Kidapawan City, Cotabato, a police official said Tuesday.
George Vigo and his wife, Mazel, were on their way home late on Monday when the gunmen on a motorcycle shot them, said Kidapawan police chief Danny Reyes.
"They died on the way to the hospital from several bullet wounds in the head and body," Reyes told reporters, adding the local police were trying to determine if the murders were related to their work at a local radio station.
"It's too difficult to speculate on who was behind the attack and the motive for the murder," Reyes said, as he sought technical help from other police units to aid in drawing ketches of the suspects.
Last week, Vigo, who also contributed to the Bangkok-based Union of Catholic Asian News, was telling friends he got death threats from an unspecified group.
His wife, who hosted a separate radio programme with the same local radio station, was an organizer of the leftist movement BAYAN in North Cotabato province.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said the Vigos were the 43rd and the 44th mediamen to be murdered since Mrs. Arroyo became president in 2001.
Despite government promises to stop the murders and cash rewards, only three of 81 media murders have been solved by the police since democracy was restored in 1986 by a "people power" revolt that deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Most of the killings have been related to investigations of corruption, gambling, narcotics and other illegal activities. There have also been cases of reporters murdered on suspicion they were taking bribes.
The murder took place as the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists continued to place the Philippines as the most dangerous country in the world to be a journalist in terms of the number of mediamen killed.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topoftheh...?StoryId=42202