CDO media groups join nationwide outcry over killing of broadcaster Percy Mabasa
CAGAYAN DE ORO (MindaNews / 6 October)— A black cloth was draped over the Press Freedom Monument in Cagayan de Oro Thursday morning as local media groups joined the nationwide condemnation of the killing of radio commentator Percival Mabasa.
Mabasa, better known as Percy Lapid, was shot dead by two assailants on board a motorcycle in Las Pinas City on Monday night. He was 63.
A staunch critic of the Duterte and Marcos Jr. administrations, Mabasa is the second journalist killed under the current administration, after the stabbing of broadcaster Rey Blanco in Negros Oriental in September, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said.
Members of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC) and the Philippine National Police 10 Press Corp also placed a tarp on the monument calling for justice for Lapid and other victims of media killings.
“The killing of Mabasa is deplorable. We join our colleagues in this nationwide public outcry,” COPC president Frank Mendez said.
Mendez urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to direct the police and other law enforcement agencies to investigate and find the killers as quickly as possible.
“The culture of impunity in the country has made members of the press easy targets by vested interest groups who want to hide the truth,” he said.
PNP Press Corp president Michael Bustamante also condemned the killing of Mabasa and called on the police to put the perpetrators behind bars.
“The murder of Percy is an attack on the right to freedom of expression,” Bustamante said.
Mendez said the press club also urged Marcos to activate the Presidential Task Force on Media Security so it can help in the investigation of Mabasa’s killing.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte formed the Presidential Task Force on Media Security in 2016 to provide protection to media practitioners.
The Cagayan de Oro media is no stranger to threats on their lives.
Local radio block-time anchor Federico Gempesaw, 62, was shot dead by gunmen in Barangay Carmen on June 29 this year.
The Press Freedom Monument in front of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club at the Misamis Oriental capitol grounds was built in 2009 to honor fallen journalists in the Philippines. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)
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