A veteran journalist was found dead in the Philippines province of Davao Oriental on 24 May, according to news reports. The body of Satur Apoyon was discovered floating in the sea off the coast of the town of Governor Generoso, the Philippines News Agency (PNA) reported. The police chief of the municipality of Gov. Generoso reportedly explained that the body of the journalist was identified through his identification card, as it had already started to decompose.

Apoyon, aged 75, was the former chief of PNA’s Davao City bureau, and had also been working as a stringer for the agency.

The journalist was declared missing on 19 May after he went for a walk in the morning and never returned, the agency wrote.

“It was his daily routine to go to our small 300-square meter farm every morning to water the plants and do some little exercises,” PNA quoted the journalist’s wife as saying.

The police reportedly said that an autopsy of the body had ruled out violence as the cause of his death. They do not, however, exclude the possibility that Apoyon had fallen into the water. The police inspector explained that he was not aware of any enemies the journalist may have had, PNA reported.

IPI Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said: “Our condolences go out to the family and colleagues of Mr. Apoyon. As attacks against journalists remain common in the Philippines, we urge the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and make sure that Mr. Apoyon was not murdered because of his profession. Impunity in cases like this simply emboldens the future killers of journalists.”

A total of 64 journalists have been killed in the Philippines in the last five years, including 32 murdered during the Maguindanao massacre of 2009, according to IPI’s Death Watch count. The case of Apoyon is the second death of a journalist in the country this year. In January, radio host Gerardo “Gerry” Ortega was shot in the head while shopping in Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan island.