MANILA — The Philippine government has condemned the killing of broadcast journalist Maria Vilma Rodriguez, 56, who was shot and killed on October 22 in Zamboanga City. The Presidential Communications Office described the attack as “barbaric” and called for a thorough investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Despite the Philippines being recognized for its relatively liberal media environment, the country remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, especially in the provinces. Since democracy was restored in 1986, 200 journalists have been killed in the Philippines, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).
Rodriguez, a mother of four and a community official, was shot three times by a lone gunman while in a store near her home, according to police. Authorities arrested a suspect on October 23, but Zamboanga City police official Kimberly Molitas declined to identify the individual. The police are considering a family feud as a potential motive.
“We are urging the Zamboanga City police to probe deeper into this,” the NUJP said in a statement, expressing concerns about the investigation becoming another unsolved case. Rodriguez’s killing marks the fifth murder of a journalist since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in June 2022.
The killing highlights ongoing threats to press freedom in the Philippines. In 2023, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists ranked the Philippines eighth worst in the world for prosecuting those responsible for the deaths of journalists.
“We don’t need a tale of another unsolved case that ended up as archives or statistics,” the NUJP emphasized. The most notorious case of journalist killings in the Philippines occurred in 2009, when 32 journalists were murdered in a single incident, underscoring the country’s long-standing challenges in protecting its media workers.