Radio presenter gunned down six years after being refused protection

Reporters Without Borders condemns the 9 June murder of Nilo Baculo Sr, a radio journalist who was denied protection in 2008. Shot by an unidentified gunman on a motorcycle as he was going home in Calapan, in the central province of Mindoro Oriental, he was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. “This latest murder of a journalist testifies yet again to the climate of impunity for the enemies of freedom of information in the Philippines,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Baculo’s death is a result of the refusal of his request for protection in 2008, when he felt his life was threatened. We urge President Benigno Aquino to adopt concrete measures to protect journalists and not underestimate the threats they face every day.” After being told in 2007 that a price had been put on his head, Baculo got the supreme court to grant him provisional protection but this was rescinded by an appeal court in June 2008 for lack of evidence, with the result that he went into hiding. Baculo stopped hosting news programmes on DWIM radio in March of this year, but relatives said he continued to work as a journalist. Described as “controversial” by other local journalists, he made many enemies because of his investigative coverage of crimes and irregularities involving local officials. He had been told that local officials involved in drug trafficking had put out a contract for his murder. Baculo was the second journalist to be killed in recent months, following a tabloid newspaper reporter who was shot in her home in April. One of the world’s deadliest countries for journalists, the Philippines is ranked 149th out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.