DXND Radyo Bida anchor Eduardo Dizon is the 13th journalist killed since 2016. (Photo courtesy of DXND Radyo Bida 747 Facebook Page)

UPDATED (2:00 p.m.)

KIDAPAWAN CITY – A radio news anchor was shot dead Wednesday night while on his way home after his daily program.

Eduardo “Ed” Dizon, of Tejada Subdivision in Makilala, North Cotabato, had five gunshot wounds and died inside his white Mitsubishi Mirage.

Police Lt. Col. Maria Joyce Birrey, Kidapawan City police chief, said Dizon had finished his “Tira Brigada” program on Brigada News FM Kidapawan when motorcycle-riding gunmen trailed his car. 

Dizon was gunned down near Colegio de Kidapawan on Quezon Boulevard at 10:35 p.m. on Wednesday.

Police have yet to determine the motive for the killing. Birrey said a task force would be formed to work on the case.

Dizon previously anchored a public affairs program of DXND, the media apostolate of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He left the post to run for councilor in last May elections, but lost.

Mark Anthony Tayco, Kidapawan City chapter chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), condemned the killing of Dizon and called on the police to bring the perpetrators to justice. 

The NUJP said Dizon is the 13th journalist killed since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016.

Sen. Grace Poe immediately condemned the killing, saying “the cycle has to stop.”

“Every killer who eludes justice can embolden the next,” she said in a statement. (Rommel F. Lopez)

(This story was corrected to accurately report the past employment of Mr. Dizon – Ed.)