Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo has urged authorities to quickly solve the killing of broadcaster Adrian “Golden Boy” Loterte in Daraga, Albay, warning that an unsolved case could scare other journalists away from reporting on wrongdoing. Loterte was shot on Monday, 12 October, and died hours later in hospital.
Loterte was an anchor for RBN News Television, also known as “Rabas Cun Rabas”. He was attacked in Barangay San Roque in Daraga and was being treated at Daraga Doctors Hospital when he died. Police are investigating but have yet to identify any suspects or establish a motive for the shooting. His death has left the province’s media community once again counting the cost of violence against those who report the news.
Speaking to reporters in Legazpi City, Robredo said the timing made the attack especially troubling, because it came just after the Presidential Task Force on Media Security had wrapped up a media safety seminar in the area. She also pointed out that another media worker had previously been killed in Albay. In her reading, the message sent by the attack seemed to be “Stop, stop calling out wrongdoing.” She said that message was exactly why authorities needed to act quickly and show that such attacks would not go unpunished.
The former vice president said the harm would not stop with the press. People who depend on the media for information could also become reluctant to speak out for fear of being targeted, she said, and when journalists are afraid for their lives it is the public that ends up losing. That, she argued, is why the case has to be closed quickly, before a chilling effect takes hold in the province. Robredo, a former vice president, now serves as mayor of Naga City in neighbouring Camarines Sur.
Brig. Gen. Randy Glenn Silvio, the Bicol regional police director, said a special investigation task group has been formed to handle the case. He assured Loterte’s family that the police would do everything they could to find those responsible and bring the investigation to a close. No timeline has been given for the inquiry, and police have not said whether the shooting was linked to Loterte’s work as a broadcaster. Robredo’s call adds to pressure on authorities to show progress in the case.
