Broadcaster slain in N. Samar
CATARMAN, Northern Samar -- (UPDATE 4) A broadcaster was shot dead by unidentified assailants in San Roque town, 20 kilometers east of here, early Tuesday evening, police said.
Police said Leo Luna Mila, 35, a news anchorman and commentator of Radyo Natin, was found lying in a pool of blood a few feet from the gate of the station, an affiliate of the Manila Broadcasting Company, in Sitio (sub-village) Napiris, Barangay (village) Zone 3, a kilometer from the San Roque town center.
Police said Mila bore about 12 gunshot wounds, several of them in the head.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said Mila is the seventh journalist murdered this year and the 62nd since 2001, when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power.
Mila had just finished his afternoon program Himig Waraynon (Sound of the Waray) and was about to leave the station compound on his motorcycle when he was shot, Maricel Pedernales, caretaker of the radio station, said.
Pedernales said she heard a burst of gunfire from the compound's gate, about 100 meters from the radio station's main building. When she went to check, she found the victim's motorcycle lying on the ground but she could not see Mila as it was very dark in the area.
People living in nearby houses also heard the gunshots but no one claimed to have seen the shooting.
San Roque police chief Senior Inspector Enrique Dino told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) that he had cautioned Mila about his commentaries because the broadcaster had received threats through text messages last September.
Dino said he was certain that Mila's death was related to his work as a broadcaster.
Mila was known in the locality as being vocal in his opinions and commentaries on local issues. He was also publisher of the local fortnightly magazine Peryodista and hosted another radio program "Bungkaras? (Wake Up).
Chief Superintendent Abner Cabalquinto, police director of Region 8, who claimed Mila had been critical of communist rebels? forced taxation, said they are looking into the possibility the broadcaster was killed by New People?s Army hitmen.
However, he also said they are also considering a personal grudge against the victim.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) said it is sending a team of prosecutors and investigators to Northern Samar to probe the murder of Leo Mila.
Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor, chairman of the Task Force Against Political Violence and Extra-Legal Killing, said they are already working with police for the immediate solution of the case.
Blancaflor urged those with knowledge of the crime to come forward and help investigators.
"I can assure you that the confidentiality of the information you will give will not be disclosed," Blancaflor said.
Mila had been a journalist for about 15 years. He left behind a wife and two children.
He was the first media practitioner based in Northern Samar to have been murdered and the second in the entire region.
Ramon "Monching" Noblejas was shot to death by a still unidentified assailant inside the compound of radio station dyVL in Tacloban City on October 4, 1987. The case has remained unsolved.
Leo Luna Mila, 35, a news anchorman and commentator of Radyo Natin, was gunned down Tuesday in San Roque, Northern Samar, Philippines. Mila was shot 12 times while leaving work. As publisher of the local magazine Peryodista and host of another radio program "Bungkaras" (Wake Up), he had been critical of the New People's Army's forced taxation. He had received threats through text messages last September.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that Mila is the 8th journalist killed in the Philippines this year and the 62nd since 2001, when President  Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power. A total of 122 media people have been murdered since President Cory Aquino overthrew the Marcos dictatorship in 1986. 

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice's Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor, chairman of the "Task Force 211" - Against Political Violence and Extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances in the Philippines, announced that a probe team would be sent to Northern Samar. The Northern Samar provincial police office has also formed "Task Force Mila" to investigate the killing. Two local politicians, including San Roque Mayor Andre Avalon, have offered a P100,000 (US$2 067.80) bounty for any information leading to the capture of the suspects.

Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said, "it is time for the central government, as well as local authorities, to promptly address the climate of impunity that is facilitating rising violence against Philippine journalists. Mila's murder is a reminder that police throughout the Philippines must respond immediately with investigations and protection when journalists are threatened for their work."