Newspaper executive killed in General Santos City
CMFR/PHILIPPINES – The circulation manager of a newspaper in General Santos City was shot dead by a motorcycle-riding gunman outside his office last 11 November 2011. General Santos City is part of South Cotabato, a province approximately 1049 kilometers south of Manila.
An unidentified gunman shot Alfredo “Dodong” Velarde Jr. in front of the compound of the local newspaper Brigada News at around 3:45 a.m. (local time). In a repeat of a common pattern in the killing of journalists and political activists, the gunman fled on a motorcycle driven by another unidentified man. Velarde was rushed to the hospital but was dead on arrival.
According to media reports, Velarde and his companion–who escaped unharmed–were waiting for the guard to open the gates of the newspaper’s compound when the incident happened.
Inquirer.net reported that the closed-circuit television camera installed at the gates of the compound recorded the arrival of Velarde’s car but the place where he parked his vehicle was not visible to the camera. The security camera also recorded the arrival of the two motorcyle-riding suspects, but failed to record where they stopped and the attack itself.
A police officer who refused to be identified told Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) that the police have yet to identify the gunman despite the compound’s close circuit television camera because the gunman’s face was covered.
Ernie Gabonada, station manager of Brigada FM station, the radio station of Brigada News, told CMFR that Velarde had a dispute with local tabloid dealers. He also said that the victim had been sued by two teenagers for frustrated murder. But Gabonada said he did not know who was behind the killing.
Meanwhile, lawyer Froebel Kan Balleque, spokesperson and counsel of Brigada News, told CMFR that the killing of Velarde might have been work related because “May rivalry or competition na nangyayari sa loob (There’s rivalry or competition inside the company).”
Balleque also said that Benjardi Mantele, acting regional director of PNP Region 12, has formed a special investigation group to investigate the killing.
If his killing was work-related, Velarde will be the sixth journalist and media worker killed in the line of duty in 2011. One hundred twenty-three journalists and media workers have been killed in the Philippines since 1986.
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