MANILA: The Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) on Sunday (March 22) condemned the killing of Negros Occidental radio broadcaster Julito “Jaz” Diamante Calo and vowed to ensure “justice is served.”
Calling the murder a “significant threat to press freedom,” the interagency task force under the Office of the President said it is coordinating with provincial authorities to expedite the investigation into this case.
The 49-year-old Calo, a reporter for DNN News FM based in Himamaylan City, was shot on Friday while tending to his garden at his home in Barangay Robles, La Castellana. He was rushed to a hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
According to police, an unidentified gunman in a sport utility vehicle approached Calo without provocation and fired, then fled the scene.
Calo, who is also a job order worker, is the ninth journalist killed since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office on June 30, 2022, according to Human Rights Watch. All these fatalities except for one had worked in radio.
‘Line of duty’
“The Presidential Task Force on Media Security condemns the killing of broadcaster Julito “Jaz” Diamante Calo of La Castellana, Negros Occidental, on March 20,” the interagency body tasked to protect members of the press said in a statement on Sunday.
“His death serves as a reminder of the dangers that media practitioners face in the line of duty,” PTFoMs said.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)had also earlier condemned Calo’s killing, saying this reflected a troubling pattern of attacks against journalists, with many of these cases unresolved.
“We will not be silenced, and [we vow] to stand in solidarity with our fellow journalists to defend the freedom of the press and the rights of all Filipinos to a free and independent media,” the Negros Island Region (NIR) office of the NUJP said in a statement on Friday.
The group said further: “We urgently urge authorities to take decisive, immediate, action: conduct a thorough, impartial, and expeditious investigation to identify the perpetrator and accomplices, and bring them to justice.”
Dangerous country
According to Human Rights Watch World Report 2026, the Philippines remains a dangerous country for journalists.
Eight of the nine fatalities identified in the report had worked in radio, just like Calo. They are:
• Broadcaster Renato “Rey” Blanco, stabbed to death in Mabinay, Negros Oriental, September 2022;
• Prominent radio commentator Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa, killed in Las Piñas City, October 2022;
• Radio broadcaster Cresciano “Cris” Bundoquin, gunned down in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, May 2023;
• Radio broadcaster Juan “Johnny Walker” Jumalon, shot dead while broadcasting live in Calamba, Misamis Occidental, November 2023;
• Radio anchor Maria Vilma Rodriguez, killed in Zamboanga City, October 2024;
• Veteran journalist and publisher Juan “Johnny” Dayang, shot and killed in his home in Kalibo, Aklan, April 2025;
• Radio broadcaster Erwin Labitad Segovia, gunned down in Bislig City, Surigao del Sur, July 2025;
• Radio reporter Noel Bellen Samar, shot and killed while driving on Maharlika Highway in Guinobatan, Albay, October 2025.
Radio commentator Federico “Ding” Gempesaw was shot at close range outside his home in Cagayan de Oro on June 29, 2022, a day before Marcos assumed office.
The President himself had condemned Mabasa’s killing, calling it an “attack on media freedom.” But the main accused in that crime, former Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag, is still at large.
‘Barbaric act’
NUJP-NIR said the killing of any journalist sends a chilling message to those committed to reporting the truth and undermines the very foundation of democracy.
“Killing journalists is a barbaric act that has no place in our society,” said NUJP-NIR chair Chito Berjit Jr. “It is a blatant attack to silence voices that seeks to inform, question, and hold power to account for their civic duties and responsibilities, and uphold the public’s right to know.”
The media organisation called on the government and security forces to end the culture of impunity that has allowed such crimes to continue without accountability. - Philippine Daily Inquirer with a report from Inquirer Research
