Radio show host Niel Jimena, 42, was killed on Negros Island yesterday in a motorcycle chase by two gunmen, AFP and local news reports said. He was reportedly slain near his home in E.B. Magalona town after a car chase.

Jimena had hosted a twice-weekly radio show called “Judge” on DYRI-RMN, on which he frequently criticized the mayor of Iloilo city and other local officials, AFP reported.  He also wrote for Ilonga News, according to a report on Philstar.com.

The journalist sustained five gunshot wounds, according to local reports, and was declared dead upon arrival at the hospital.

Police and the National Union of Journalists are currently investigating whether his death is linked to his work as a journalist, although police have not yet ruled out other motives, according to AFP.

Jimena had “been a radio block-timer since 2010 and was also a former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agent,” ABS-CBN News quoted police as saying.

“We urge the police to speed up their investigation into the killing of Niel Jimena, and to bring to justice those who ordered and committed the attack,” said IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills. “A climate of impunity in the Philippines is fuelling the killing of journalists.”

If Jimena was killed as a result of his work, Jimena will be the third journalist to be killed in the Philippines this year, according to the IPI Death Watch.  After Pakistan, the Philippines is the second most deadly country for journalists in Asia.