Authorities are looking into persons of interest in the killing of broadcaster Noel Samar in Albay, according to the Presidential Task Force on Media Safety (PTFOMS) on Friday.
A block-time commentator for DWIZ and an online media manager for Kadunong ITV, Samar was shot in the chest and abdomen by motor-riding assailants in Guinobatan town last Monday. He died on Tuesday afternoon.
‘We have persons of interest at present. We have a photo of the gunman and their vehicle. They have a cartographic sketch already and the police are looking for him,’ PTFOMS Director Jose Torres Jr. said at a press conference at the National Police Commission (Napolcom) Quezon City office on Friday.
He later added that authorities were specifically looking at two persons of interest.
‘They each had a motorcycle. One of them blocked the way. The other was behind him and shot Noel Samar,’ Torres added.
By the PTFOMS’ tally, Samar is the 200th journalist to be killed in the Philippines since 1986.
Torres said the police were looking into whether his work as a commentator had anything to do with his killing, but added that they were also looking into the possibility that his killing had personal motivations.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) previously said the Albay provincial government was offering P25,000 for information that would lead to the arrest of the killers.