Noel Bellen Samar, a radio reporter with the local Kadunong ITV and DWIZ, was shot on October 20 while traveling on the Maharlika Highway in Guinobatan, a municipality in the Bicol region’s central Albay province, and succumbed to his injuries the following day, according to multiple news reports.
Samar, 54, sustained four gunshot wounds to the body from a .45-caliber pistol and died after surgery at Bicol Regional Hospital and Medical Center, the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS), a state body tasked with investigating media killings, said in a press release.
PTFOMS condemned the “brazen attack” in a statement and said it had deployed a team to “ensure a thorough, impartial, and swift investigation.”
Police in Guinobatan said on the day of the attack that they had launched a manhunt and were coordinating with nearby municipal police stations to set up checkpoints to capture the assailants, who fled the crime scene.
Albay police director Colonel Noel Nunez, citing CCTV footage, said two suspects riding separate motorcycles appeared to have tailed and sandwiched Samar before the ambush, according to an Inquirer.net report.
Nunez said police had identified a person of interest and were investigating the possibility that the attack was related to his news reporting, but the motive for the attack was still unclear.