A RADIO BROADCASTER from Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija province was shot dead while on his way to work Thursday, according to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR).
Caesar Cauzo, a radio commentator of radio station DWJJ 684 Cabanatuan City was riding his motorcycle when he was shot three times by a motorcycle-riding gunman at 8:40 a.m. along Flowerlane Street, Cabanatuan City. Responding policemen rushed Cauzo to the nearest hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.
Cabanatuan City is located 115 kilometers northeast of Manila on the main island of Luzon.
CMFR, which monitors and reports cases of media murders and harassment, says that if Cauzo’s murder was work-related, it would be the fourth murder of a journalist this year, and the 11th during the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III. It would also be the second work-related killing in Nueva Ecija since the 2007 murder of radio reporter Carmelo Palacios.
Palacios’ body was found in Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija a day after he disappeared. Police have never been able to identify or apprehend any suspect in his murder.
A PCIJ documentary on Palacios’ murder
Almost all the media murder cases in the Philippines remain unsolved. In the few cases where police have been able to secure convictions, the suspects are often just hired gunmen. No murder mastermind has ever been arrested or convicted.
In Cauzo’s case, Cabanatuan police investigators said they had been unable to identify the gunmen. The black motorcycle used in the shooting also had no license plates, according to witnesses.
Investigators have not yet determined the motive behind Cauzo’s murder, although his colleagues in DWJJ say it may have something to do with his political advocacies.
Cauzo was reportedly pushing for the approval of Cabanatuan City’s classification as a highly urbanized city (HUC), which some politicians and local groups have been opposing.
DWJJ is owned by the wife of Cabanatuan Mayor Julius Vergara, who is also in favor of Cabanatuan’s classification as an HUC, says CMFR.