Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 22) A radio blocktime commentator was gunned down on Thursday morning, just after his program in Cebu City.
Veteran commentator Reynante “Rey” Cortes was shot dead in front of DYRB-AM radio station along N. Bacalso Avenue in Mambaling, according to Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, who was also at the radio station hosting his own show at the time of the shooting.
Cortes was immediately rushed to the Cebu City Medical Center but doctors declared him dead on arrival. The radio commentator sustained a gunshot wound in the chest.
Tumulak said riding-in-tandem assailants fired at Cortes while he was standing near his car outside the radio station.
The city councilor said Cortes was a hard-hitting commentator and believed that the killing was related to his work as a blocktimer.
Tumulak called on the police to immediately launch an investigation as he branded this as a threat to freedom of the press.
Meanwhile, Police Major Dindo Juanito Alaras said the assailants were still unidentified.
Alaras said they are looking at different angles to the killing, including that it may have been the handiwork of enemies Cortez made due to his commentaries.