Nelson “Berto” Nadura

1960 – December 2, 2003

Nelson enrolled in UP as a Veterinary Medicine major but he decided to devote his time as a full-time activist and participated actively in organizing work in communities and dormitories. He helped initiate events, teach-ins, and noise barrages to drum up support for SAMASA election candidates or educate the students and the residents of UP communities regarding national and campus issues. He also coordinated exposure trips of students to picket lines, factories, and other depressed communities outside UP to raise the awareness of students on the problems of  workers and informal settlers.

In those days, activists reproduce statements using a mimeographing machine and paint walls and cloth with slogans. Berto was one of the reliable comrades to perform these tedious and oftentimes risky tasks, especially its distribution to the target audience.

Berto opted the path to armed struggle at a time when the Marcos dictatorship instigated more arrests and killing as it tried to cling to its last straws of power. He served as a spokesperson of the CPP-NPA Provincial Committee in Masbate for several years.

In 1998, Nelson surrendered and tested the democratic space that the Estrada administration offered. He pursued another path by being a block timer or somebody who buys airtime from a broadcast station. He was eventually granted amnesty by the government. During his stint as a broadcaster, Nelson tackled issues confronting even powerful politicians in Masbate. Described as a fiery radio commentator, Nelson was elected president of the Union of Print and Broadcast Journalists of Masbate.

On the morning of December 2, 2003,  after his regular hard-hitting commentary program on DYME aired from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., two unidentified men gunned down Nelson. In a telephone interview with the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), Chang Enciso, DYME station manager said Nadura was on his way to the city center on his motorcycle when the suspects shot him five times. He was killed about a kilometer from the station. 

The police did not discount the possibility that Nadura may have been targeted because of his past affiliation with the New People’s Army (NPA). His murder never received any attention from the police after the shock of the first few days. Police insisted he was shot by communist guerrillas of which he was once a member. Colleagues told Reporters Without Borders that the police set up a “Task Force Nadura” but never considered any suspects other than the NPA. DYME manager Chang Enciso said that the NPA has denied the deed.

Nadura was the seventh Filipino journalist killed in 2003. According to the CMFR, Nadura was the 43rd journalist killed in the Philippines since 1986, the year the Marcos dictatorship was booted out of power.