On 16 February 2016, Elvis Ordaniza was making dinner at his home in Zamboanga del Sur, on the island of Mindanao. At around 7pm a man broke into his home and shot him twice in the chest. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but was declared dead on arrival.

Ordaniza was a journalist and reporter for the radio station dxWO Power99. Tolentino – the host of the programme he worked on – stated Ordaniza was a good and brave reporter. He had recently been reporting on the drug trade and illegal gambling operations in the region. Police Chief Superintendent, Miguel Antonio, ordered a thorough investigation but refused to say whether the murder was linked to Ordaniza’s work as a journalist. In his youth Ordaniza had been a member of the New People’s Army, the Filipino communist party, but had not been associated with the group for some time.

After his killing, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) issued a statement saying, “Whatever the reason for Ordaniza’s murder, one thing remains constant — it is government’s continued failure to prevent such killings and solve past cases.” Ordaniza is the first journalist killed in 2016. If proven work-related, his killing will be the 151st case of a journalist killed in the line of duty since 1986, and the 30th during Benigno Aquino III’s presidency.