THE Cagayan De Oro Press Club (COPC) yesterday condemned the killing of veteran radio commentator, Percival Mabasa, popularly known as ‘Percy Lapid’ on Monday.
This is the joint position of the members of the board of directors of the club sent to different media outlets in the city during the meeting held yesterday.
Lapid was shot dead by still unidentified armed men on board a motorcycle in Las Piñas City at around 8:30 pm.
A police report said the broadcaster was driving along Aria Street when shot by two male suspects on board a motorcycle without plate number, “causing his instantaneous death.”
It was also reported that the suspects pumped at least five bullets of a caliber pistol that has not been identified until now at the victim’s car.
Lapid was a known critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
In a statement signed by COPC president Frank Mendez, journalists in Cagayan de Oro City strongly condemned the killing.
“The Cagayan de Oro Press Club expects the criminals to be caught soon and immediately brought to justice to answer the brutal killing of Percival Mabasa,” the COPC statement reads in part.
The Press Club also called for President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to act on the requested Executive Order of the COPC to continue the formation of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security so as not to defame the media representatives who kill just like the easy killing of Percival Mabasa.
The COPC statement also added that the Presidential Task Force on Media Security was only established during the previous administration.
Meanwhile, the National Press Club of the Philippines also condemned the incident, saying that press freedom is enshrined in the country’s Constitution and “nobody should be deprived of life” for expressing what they believed in.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said the killing “shows that journalism remains a dangerous profession in the country.”
“That the incident took place in Metro Manila indicates how brazen the perpetrators were, and how authorities have failed to protect journalists as well as ordinary citizens from harm,” the NUJP statement reads in part.
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