RSF calls for a thorough investigation into the murder of a radio journalist in the Philippines

On 21 October 2025, Filipino radio presenter Noel Bellen Samar, aged 54, diedafter sustaining serious gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. The attack was carried out by an unidentified gunman the previous day while he was driving on a motorway on the island of Luzon, in the north of the country. Samar was taken to hospital in a critical condition but sadly did not survive his injuries. He worked for the DWIZradio station and media Kadunong ITV.

In a statement, the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS) announcedthe creation of a special task force to investigate the murder.

Noel Bellen Samar is the eighth radio journalist to be killed in the Philippines since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in June 2022. Two of these cases have been confirmed as being linked to journalism, while six others remain under investigation.

With the country's population spread across thousands of islands, radio plays a crucial role in the dissemination of news, and radio journalists often pay with their lives for their outspoken and critical reporting. In October 2022, radio journalist Percival "Percy Lapid" Mabasa was shot deadnear his home in the suburbs of Manila. Although the perpetrator of this crime was sentenced in May 2025 to 16 years in prison, the mastermind of the crime still remains at large.

Since the restoration of democracy in 1986, at least 147 journalists have been killedin the Philippines, and one journalist, Frenchie Mae Cumpio, remains behind bars. The country ranks among the most dangerous in the world for media professionals. In 2025, the archipelago ranks 116th out of 180 countries in RSF's World Press Freedom Index.