Gunmen fatally wound journalist in street attack

Reporters Without Borders expressed its outrage following a radio journalist's death from bullet wounds, just two days after it released its investigation report into the murders of journalists in the Philippines. Klein Cantoneros, a presenter on radio DXAA, died on 4 May in Dipolog, on Mindanao Island, hours after gunmen opened fire on him in the street as he was on his way home. The worldwide press freedom organisation urged interior minister, Angelo Reyes in a letter to do everything possible to ensure a rigorous investigation leading to the arrest of the killers. Cantoneros is the second journalist to be murdered in Dipolog. Ferdinand Reyes was shot dead in his office with a single bullet to the head on 12 February 1996. "The investigation into the Reyes case having stalled, it is essential that in this latest case there is a halt to the complete impunity that has been enjoyed by the instigators and those who carry out murders of journalists, since the return to democracy in 1986. "The steps taken by the Philippines authorities should not stop at statements of intent," said Reporters Without Borders. Three gunmen caught Cantoneros in a hail of fire overnight on 3-4 May 2005 as he was returning home on his motorbike. Police, who were quickly on the scene, found the journalist in a critical condition, holding a calibre 45 gun in his hand with which he had tried to defend himself. He died of his wounds several hours later at the Dipolog medical centre. Cantoneros was an outspoken critic of the local authorities. The presenter of a programme he financed himself on Radio DXAA, he had received several death threats, some sent by text message. Colleagues said he had read these messages out on air.