Two reporters murdered

A radio journalist died last weekend from gunshot wounds in the southern Philippines, becoming the second reporter from his network to be killed in less than a week, a colleague said.

Dennis Cuesta, a commentator and program director for Radio Mindanao Network in General Santos City, was shot four times by assailants on motorbikes as he walked home.

Mel Coronel, also a commentator at the network, said Cuesta, 38, never recovered from a coma and died in intensive care.

More than a dozen co-workers visited Cuesta at the hospital Saturday after hearing he had slightly opened his left eye and moved his eyeball, Coronel said.

"We went inside to talk to him. It was like he was saying goodbye to us," Coronel said.

Doctors later said his heartbeat slowly weakened and he could not be revived.

Another Radio Mindanao journalist, Martin Roxas, 32, was fatally shot in central Roxas city last Thursday by a gunman, also on a motorcycle. The network’s assistant vice president, Rey Bayoging, has said the attacks on Cuesta and Roxas, whom he described as hard-hitting commentators — were work-related.

General Santos police Chief Roberto Po said investigators are looking at some "hotheaded" personalities who may have been angered by some of Cuesta’s reports. Two suspects have been arrested in the attack on Roxas, whose most recent expose concerned hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial assistance from the city government that was unaccounted for.

Attacks on reporters are frequent in the Philippines. Cuesta is the 60th fatality since 2001, the journalists union says.