Radio journalist Cris Bundoquin shot and killed in the Philippines

Police officers are seen in Quezon City, Philippines, on March 29, 2021. (Reuters/Lisa Marie David)

In the early hours of Wednesday, May 31, two assailants on a motorcycle shot and killed radio journalist Cris Bundoqui in the Philippine city of Calapan, in Oriental Mindoro province.

National Police Chief General Benjamin Acorda Jr. said police had established a special task force to handle the investigation and were trying to determine the motive for the attack.

“The senseless killing of radio reporter Cris Bundoquin shows that those who attack journalists remain undeterred under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s one-year-old government,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Until the Philippine government shows it is serious about ending impunity in media murders, such killings will likely continue.”

CPJ recently documented how the new administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has seen less overt antagonism toward the media than his predecessor, but that journalists continued to await substantive actions to improve the safety of the press in the country.

Deadly Pattern

A mural of Al-Jazeera Arabic journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is seen on a wall in Gaza City on May 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

The May 11, 2022, killing of Al-Jazeera Arabic correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh is part of a deadly, decades-long pattern, according to a new special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Over 22 years, CPJ has documented at least 20 journalist killings by members of the Israel Defense Forces. Despite numerous IDF probes, no one has ever been charged or held responsible for these deaths. The impunity in these cases has severely undermined the freedom of the press, leaving the rights of journalists in precarity and undermining coverage of the region. The report includes recommendations to prevent future killings.

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Journalists Attacked

Dom Phillips

MURDERED

British freelance journalist Dominic “Dom” Phillips went missing on June 5, 2022, during a reporting trip in the Brazilian Amazon with Indigenous issues expert Bruno Pereira. Their burned and buried remains were found with gunshot wounds later that month.

Phillips and Pereira were both killed the morning they went missing. They had been traveling to interview local residents and others for research on a book Phillips was writing. Three people have been charged with their murder.

Learn more about Phillips