DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental — Less than an hour after media giant ABS-CBN went off the air, Rex Cornelio Pepino, a Dumaguete-based journalist, and radio broadcaster was shot dead Tuesday night, May 5, 2020, along Villa Amada street in Barangay Daro, here.
The 49-year old Cornelio, who is well-known in the city as a radio broadcaster was on his way home to Sibulan with his wife after hosting his program “Pokpokin mo Baby” over Energy FM 93.7.
According to a source close to the victim, he was stopped by riding-in-tandem gunmen and shot at close range. Two gunshots hit him on the chest, another one on the head, one on the shoulder, and one on the left wrist.
Pepino was rushed to the Silliman University Medical Center where he was declared dead on arrival.
In November 2019, Dindo Generoso, another broadcast journalist in Dumaguete was also shot dead in broad daylight while on his way to host his program over dyEM 96.7 Bai Radio.
According to the New York-based media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Philippines is the fifth deadliest country for media professionals with the highest number of unsolved killings.
READ: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1183887/ph-is-fifth-deadliest-country-for-journalists
Rex Cornelio Pepino is survived by his wife Colleen and their two children. /rcg