Radio announcer in Negros Oriental shot dead by riding-in-tandem

The victim, Gabriel “Kumander Aguila” Alburo was heading back home to Guihulngan City, riding his motorcycle when he was shot by two unidentified men onboard another motorcycle on the national highway in Barangay North Poblacion at around 3:05 a.m. (Shutterstock photo)

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) notified the public that a radio announcer, who was running for village councilor, was shot dead by a riding-in-tandem in La Libertad, Negros Oriental on Friday, December 28.

The victim, Gabriel “Kumander Aguila” Alburo was heading back home to Guihulngan City, riding his motorcycle when he was shot by two unidentified men onboard another motorcycle on the national highway in Barangay North Poblacion at around 3:05 a.m.

According to NUJP, Alburo’s colleagues said the radio announcer just recently resumed broadcasting over 94.5 dyJL FM, a community station in Guihulgan.

Senior Superintendent Raul Tacaca, Provincial Director of Negros Oriental, told INQUIRER.net that police found more than 10 empty shells from a caliber .45 pistol in the crime scene.

The authorities have yet to determine the motive behind Alburo’s slay, but Tacaca said the latter’s murder can be also linked to his job as a media practitioner.

The media watchdog said if the suspects’ reason to kill the 50-year-old radio announcer was proven to be work-related, then Alburo’s murder “brings to 13 the number of journalists killed since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in mid-2016 and 186 since 1986.”

“He is the second media practitioner to be killed in Negros Oriental this year after Edmund Sestoso in Dumaguete on April 30,” it added.

Sestoso died after he was shot by unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen, while he was on his way home after work.

He was the host of the morning news and public affairs program Tug-anan Sa Power 91 over local radio station dyGB 91.7 FM.