Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot and wounded a radio commentator in the northern tobacco region, the first case of violence against journalists this year in the country, police and a local press union said Friday. Eugene Paet was on his way home after work at a radio station owned by a powerful political clan in Ilocos Sur province when the gunmen fired at him Thursday night, said Eduardo Dupale, provincial police chief. “He was hit in the body but was able to run away from his would-be assassins,” Dupale told reporters, adding the radio talk show host is now in stable condition at a hospital in Vigan. “We're now trying to establish the motive for the attack. It's too premature to conclude it was work-related because there could be other reasons for the attempt to kill him.” The Philippines was listed as the most dangerous country for journalists in 2009 with the death of 30 local press members in a politically-motivated massacre in a southern province in November, the Brussels-based International News Safety Institute (INSI) said.
