Pace, 51, an outspoken block-time commentator on Radyo Ukay
DXDS, was shot in the head and chest by two motorcycle-riding assailants while
traveling home from work on a busy street in Digos
City on the island of Mindanao.
He died shortly after arriving at a local hospital.
On July 20, Digos
City police arrested Joy
Anticamara in the murder. Police said Pace’s 16-year-old neighbor witnessed the
shooting from 15 to 30 feet away and identified Anticamara in a lineup. A Digos
court convicted Anticamara on April 29, 2009, and sentenced him to 17 years in
prison for the murder.
Pace was known for stinging radio commentaries that often targeted local
politicians. News reports noted that he had been the target of a number of
libel lawsuits filed by politicians, businesspeople, and others. Pace purchased
airtime from DXDS under a practice known as block-timing, in which commentators
solicit their own advertisers. Local press freedom group the Center for Media
Freedom and Responsibility said it believes the killing was carried out in
retribution for Pace’s commentaries.
Pace had received several death threats before the shooting,
and another radio journalist, Dondon Dinoy, was later threatened for reporting
on the killing, according to CMFR.