Filippine, giornalista coinvolto in un ambiguo delitto

E' avvenuto sullo sfondo del quarantennale scontro tra autonomisti islamici e autorità ufficiali di Mindanao l'ennesimo omicidio di una personalità radiofonica delle Filippine. Cinque vittime nel 2008, un totale di 59 dal 2001 e anche quest'anno sembra cominciare nel segno di una deprecabile tradizione.
Così le fonti governative e la polizia, come si legge nelle corrispondenze della Reuters e del quotidiano locale The Inquirer, si affrettano a sottolineare che la vittima, Badrodin Abas, titolare di un programma della stazione DXCM di Mindanao (nell'area dell'unica regione filippina con governo autonomo), non era il vero bersaglio. La sua unica colpa era di essere molto simile al fratello, sospettato di essere coinvolto in un triangolo amoroso e a quanto sembra più volte minacciato di morte. Ma la teoria degli inquirenti potrebbe non essere quella giusta: Badrodin apparteneva al gruppo islamico e nei suoi programmi pur occupandosi di religione non risparmiava critiche agli oppositori del piano di accordo territoriale con gli indipendentisti musulmani.

Mistaken identity costs radioman’s life

By Edwin Fernandez
Mindanao Bureau
01/22/2009

COTABATO CITY -- A blocktime radio broadcaster here was shot dead by unidentified gunmen around around 9 p.m. (not 7:40 p.m. as reported) Wednesday in what police said Thursday could have been a case of “mistaken identity.”
Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane, city police chief, said Badrodin Abas, 38, of radio dxCM and of the Bangsamoro Consortium of Civil Society, was driving his multi-cab when the gunmen, who were riding on tandem on a motorbike, blocked his way and immediately fired on him.
The victim died instantly from bullet wounds to the head, Dangane said.
In separate interviews with the Inquirer and INQUIRER.net, Dangane said the killing of Abas was "not an attack on a media person; it was clearly a case of mistaken identity."
Dangane said they learned that the real target of the gunmen was the victim's brother, whom he did not identify.
"He was mistaken for his brother because they really looked similar," Dangane said.
Dangane said a manhunt was already launched against the gunmen.
He said a closed-circuit TV camera near the area where Abas was gunned down captured the brand and type of motorcycle the gunmen used.
The victim's younger brother was supposed to drive the multi-cab on Wednesday night but Abas reportedly insisted on driving it after his radio program.
"It was not work related," Dangane said.
He said police pursued another angle when they learned that Abas' program was more on the propagation of Islam.
"As a radio blocktimer, Abas was objective in his program and dealt more about religion and not on the prevailing armed conflict in the region," Dangane said.
Asked what could have been the motive of the gunmen, Dangane said they found out that Abas' younger brother had been embroiled in a love triangle.
With a report from Abigail Kwok, INQUIRER.net

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Gunmen kill radio commentator in southern Philippines

Thu Jan 22, 2009

MANILA (Reuters) - Two gunmen shot dead a local radio commentator in the southern Philippines, police said on Thursday, the first journalist killed in the country this year.
Badrodin Abbas was attacked by two passengers on Wednesday night when he was driving a mini-bus usually operated by his brother, police said.
The Philippines is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists -- five were murdered last year while 59 have been killed since 2001, based on records from the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines.
"We're still trying to find out if the killing was related to his work as a journalist," Willie Dangane, police chief in Cotabato City on the southern island of Mindanao, told reporters.
"We have heard rumours that he could have been mistaken for his brother who was receiving constant death threats," he added.
A Muslim, Abbas was using his radio programme to promote Islam and attack opponents of a proposed territory deal between Manila and Muslim rebels fighting for self-determination for 40 years.
A government taskforce investigating journalist killings condemned the murder of the radio commentator.
"It is lamentable that the year has hardly begun, yet another journalist has been killed," said Ricardo Blancaflor, undersecretary at the justice department and head of taskforce 211, adding he had sent a forensic team to investigate.
Under fire from local and international human rights groups, the government has vowed to track down killers of reporters but there have been few convictions.