(Photo: PNA)

Media groups and press freedom activists in the Philippines have condemned the killing of journalist Percival Mabasa, who was fatally shot near his home in Manila.

The 63-year-old radio broadcaster, who was also known as Percy Lapid, was killed by two assailants on a motorcycle at the gate of a residential compound in the Las Pinas area of suburban Manila on 3 October, police said.

In a statement, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said Mr Mabasa’s killing showed that “journalism remains a dangerous profession” in the country.

“That the incident took place in Metro Manila indicates how brazen the perpetrators were, and how authorities have failed to protect journalists as well as ordinary citizens from harm,” it added.

Mr Mabasa was an outspoken critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte as well as policies and officials in the government of his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Al Jazeera reports.

Rights group Karapatan described him as “one of the country’s fiercest truth-tellers”.

There was no immediate comment by the government, while police pledged to hold the perpetrators to account.