Broadcaster Noel Bellen Samar shot dead in Albay

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — Bicolano broadcaster Noel Bellen Samar, 54, was shot by two unidentified gunmen on October 20 in Guinobatan, Albay. A  radio reporter for Kadunong Internet TV and DWIZ 92.3 South Luzon, he was rushed to the Regional Hospital and Medical Center, where he died on October 21. 

Media reports said Samar was riding his motorcycle along the Maharlika Highway in Guinobatan when assailants riding tandem on a motorcycle fired at him. The suspects immediately fled the scene. Police said Samar was wounded in the chest and abdomen. 

In a statement released on October 20, the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS) condemned the “brazen attack” on the broadcaster. PTFOMS Executive Director Undersecretary Jose Torres Jr. said the Task Force has deployed a team on the ground to ensure a thorough, impartial, and swift investigation, while the Philippine National Police (PNP) formed a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG “Samar”).

Local media organizations and press freedom groups condemned the attack, calling on the Philippine government to ensure accountability for attacks against journalists and to end the culture of impunity that has long plagued the country. International organizations including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), also condemned the killing and called for a transparent investigation to determine whether Samar was targeted for his work.

Broadcaster Noel Bellen Samar’s death — bringing the current tally to at least eight journalists killed since June 2022 under the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration — indicates that violence against journalists and media workers continues under his watch. Although the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS) welcomed a report of zero journalist killings in 2024, which was hailed as a “significant step” towards media safety, the fact that Samar has now been killed demonstrates that even isolated “good years” do not eradicate the underlying threats. His murder also recalls the persistent pattern of unsolved media killings, especially in the provinces, and the culture of impunity that remains unbroken.

Press freedom advocates need to understand the current conditions in which journalists work. The modus operandi in the killing of Noel Bellen Samar may be typical of the violence against the media and its members in the past. However, it argues for the need to understand current challenges that confront journalists, what has continued, and what has changed. The efforts to do so should be undertaken as the country approaches the elections in 2028. The continuing pattern of unsolved media killings reveals the deep-seated impunity that enables such attacks to persist.