Journalist killed in Quezon province

CMFR/Philippines – Two unidentified men gunned down a provincial journalist on his way home in Sariaya, Quezon province on 30 June 2008. Quezon is a province approximately 100 kms southeast of Manila.

Fausto “Bert” Sison, a correspondent for the weekly Regional Bulletin and a broadcaster at the Lucena-based dzAT-AM, was with his daughters Almira and Liwayway when a gunman riding pillion on a motorcycle overtook his car and opened fire in Lutukan village, Sariaya, Quezon at around 5:30 p.m.

“After overtaking the car, the suspects opened fire and when it stopped, one of them approached the car and peppered it with bullets,” the Manila broadsheet Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Quezon police director Senior Supt. Fidel Posadas as saying. “Clearly, the suspects were very angry at Sison.”

Sison and his daughters were on their way home from a party when the incident happened. Witnesses said the assailants used a motorcycle with no plate and escaped through Guis-Guis village, The Philippine Star reported.

The police have yet to identify the suspects and the motive behind the killing. “We are looking into several leads,” Superintendent Eduardo Somera, Quezon police deputy for operations and head of the Task Force Bert Sison, said to CMFR. Posadas has created Task Force Bert Sison to handle the investigation.

Delfin Mallari Jr., an Inquirer correspondent and an officer of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines chapter in Quezon, said Sison’s family knew of no threat against him.

Sison sustained nine gunshot wounds, while Liwayway was shot in the right arm as she ran out of the car. Almira was not hurt. because her father shielded her from the shots, police reports said.

Liwayway is now at a hospital in Lucena. Sison’s daughters also work as correspondents for the Regional Bulletin.

Sison was the second journalist/media practitioner killed this year. On 7 April 2008, provincial publisher Benefredo Acabal was shot dead by a motorcycle-riding man in Pasig City. Thirty-four journalists/media practitioners have been killed in the line of duty in the Philippines since 2001.

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