Drugs and Media

Drug related killings in the Philippines has already been a problem. It only skyrocketed during the Duterte administration, but it was never absent in the previous administrations. 

On Valentine’s Day of 2015, during President Benigno Aquino’s term, a 71-year old radio announcer was shot dead outside his office when he was about to go to work. He was not reportedly involved in drugs, but he was a media practitioner who was known to have a say on illegal drugs in the province of Bohol. He was killed by an unidentified gunman at 11:00 a.m. on February 14, 2015.

Maurito Lim or “Chairman Mao” was an engineer and a teacher in University of Bohol. He started his career in radio broadcasting when he hosted “Kuya Rito” in the 1970s. He stopped for a while to focus on his teaching job but continued hosting radio programs in 2000 with different program topics. In 2014, in his hour-long program “Chairman Mao on Board,” he started discussing illegal drugs issues in the province. He was a known critic of the public officials who were allegedly linked to illegal drugs trade in the province.

Despite his pronouncements on illegal drugs, according to report, his wife said that the victim remained neutral on the issue.

Read the full news story here.