By Rusty Ferguson on November 20, 2008
Gunmen on Motorcycle Kill Radio Reporter
Two men with guns killed a hard hitting and often critical reporter in the Southern Philippines just after dropping his children off at school. Areteo Padrigao, the fourth journalist in the Philippines that has been reported as murdered this year.
It is not yet known if his work as a journalist was related to his death. This is not a problem limited to the Southern Philippines. I’ve read about others killed, one was not far from Bogo City and I recall at least one more in Cebu Province.
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Posted in Living In The Philippines | Tagged Philippines, Reporter Killed
I'm an American expat having the time of my life living in the Philippines.
I'm becoming a bit of a jack of all trades. I grew up in Jackson, Ms where I graduated with a bachelors degree and a major in Accounting. Though there is no official designation of such, I have a strong educational background in finance as well.
I worked as a revenue agent and computer analyst for the IRS for almost 20 years. I'm retired from that and my pension makes it possible to travel as my income goes with me. I am also a webmaster and it seems, I'm becoming a writer, kicking and screaming all the way. When it comes to proper English, I'm not so good. When it comes to putting emotion and ideas on paper, I've been told for years that I am exceptional at it.
I also love photography and playing with computers which fits in well with my new lifestyle. Like I said, I'm having the time of my life in the Philippines. I look forward to exploring all of the country as well as some nearby countries.
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The word is ALLEGEDLY he had voiced scathing criticism of local organised crime with regard to illegal lumber harvesting and trafficking on his Saturday radio shows. Journalists here are often extremely brave (some might say stupid but not in my estimation) in their actions. sadly we found one shot through the head on the side of the road a while back ALLEGEDLY over similar issues. Lumber is biug business here.
It makes me extremely sad. I often travel by ferry and as you approach coming down from Manila, as you are a couple of klicks down from Nasapit skirting the coast you can see the huge deforestation and oit is only within the last 10 years or so that it has gotten so bad on Mindanao. the Philippines only has 2% of its virgin forests still intact, out of all 7,107 islands. It is the reason for such horrendous disasters like the mudslide on Leyte 2 years back that killed about 1000 kids in a school (more than 1000 actually).
Seeing those naked peaks now, whereas it used to be so beautiful and green is very disturbing.
I remember that mudslide. Very disturbing.
It is sad how the lands here have been damaged. When one is struggling to survive, being a fan off the environment comes second I suppose. Then again, I guess it could be the larger companies that are doing this strip harvesting. I don’t know. Perhaps you do though.
I want a Cockatoo inn a big way and they are native to the PI but very endangered. They should be plentiful here and cheap, instead it seems impossible to obtain them. One Filipina told me you can but you have to have the proper paper work. Do you know anything about that? I’d really love to have one but not one take from the wild. One taken from the wild is revolting. Especially with the numbers in such a horrible state.
I recently saw a moratorium is in effect for coconut lumber. It is a prize possession? Good stuff? Seems like there is plenty of that around.
I noticed pretty quick that wildlife in the Philippines is not doing well. There is even very little road kill, might not be a pleasant way to observe it but I did. A song bird is very rare in Cebu. At least where I have been so far.
I didn’t have time to fully write on this article. There is an organization in New York, I forget the name. It list the RP as one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist.
They claim that bribes to journalist are common and that one runs the risk of offending opposing “paymasters” and death is a common result.