Philippines: Journalist shot dead in a shop

A gunman shot a journalist in Calbayog City, 482 kilometers (300 miles) southeast of Manila, police said on Thursday.

The attack is the latest against a reporter in the Philippines, which has long been seen as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. 

Jesus Malabanan died while being transported to a hospital after being shot in the head, police and officials said. One of two motorcycle-riding men had shot him late Wednesday at a family store that he was tending.

Police said an investigation was underway to identify the suspects, who fled the scene after the shooting. 

Malabanan, 58, was a provincial correspondent for the Manila Standard newspaper.

He was a stringer for the international news agency Reuters. 

"Jess helped Reuters a lot in the drug war stories that won a Pulitzer in 2018," said Manny Mogato, a retired correspondent of the international news agency which was part of the Manila team that worked on the award-winning reports.

Journalists in danger in the Philippines 

Several press freedom groups rank the Philippines as one of the world's most dangerous places for journalists. 

Since Rodrigo Duterte became president in 2016, at least 21 journalists have been killed in the Southeast Asian country, according to a count by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines. Malabanan is the 22nd.

In 2009, members of a powerful political clan shot and killed 58 people, including 32 media workers, in a brazen execution-style attack in the southern Maguindanao province.

A media protection body created by Duterte strongly condemned the killing. But Duterte himself has long been criticized by media watchdogs and human rights groups over fostering impunity among the police forces that have enforced his crackdown against illegal drugs and left thousands of suspects dead.

fb/sms (AP, dpa, AFP)