Philippine radio journalist Noel Bellen Samar shot and critically wounded

Bangkok, October 20, 2025—Philippine authorities must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the shooting of journalist Noel Bellen Samar, identify and arrest those responsible, and ensure they are brought to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.

Samar, 54, a radio reporter with the local outlets Kadunong ITV and DWIZ, was shot on Monday morning while traveling on the Maharlika Highway in Guinobatan, a municipality in the Bicol region’s central Albay province, according to multiple news reports.

He sustained four gunshot wounds from a .45-caliber pistol and was rushed to the Bicol Regional Hospital and Medical Center, where he was scheduled to undergo surgery for his injuries, Bicol police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Maria Luisa Calubaquib was quoted as saying by Inquirer.net. The unidentified assailant fled the crime scene.

“Authorities must leave no stone unturned in identifying, capturing, and prosecuting the perpetrators behind the shooting of journalist Noel Bellen Samar,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Until President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration demonstrates that it is serious about ending impunity, these types of wanton attacks on journalists will persist.”

Guinobatan police said they had launched a manhunt and were coordinating with nearby municipal police stations to set up checkpoints to capture the gunman. The Presidential Task Force on Media Security, a state body tasked with investigating media murders, condemned the “brazen attack” in a statement, adding it had deployed a team to “ensure a thorough, impartial, and swift investigation.”

The Philippines ranked ninth on CPJ’s most recent Impunity Index, a global ranking of countries where journalists’ murderers are most likely to go free. The country has appeared on the index every year since it was first launched in 2008.