MANILA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Philippine national police said on Thursday they arrested an officer from a local force and two other men over the shooting of a newspaper reporter last month, at least the tenth attack on journalists this year.
Roger Panizal, who covers the crime beat for the "Tiktik" tabloid in northern Manila, survived five bullet wounds, including one behind his ear.
Other Filipino reporters have not been as lucky as they investigate corruption, illegal gambling and narcotics.
The Philippines is the most dangerous country in the world for the media in terms of the number of killings, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Despite cash rewards and government promises to stop the murders, only three of more than 80 media killings have been solved by the police in the past 20 years.
"We have arrested a police officer in connection with the shooting of a reporter last month in Valenzuela City," said Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, police chief of four cities and towns in northern Manila.
"He did not resist when an arrest warrant was served at his hideout in Manila."
Two men, including the alleged mastermind of the shooting of Panizal, were also arrested, Bataoil added.
Nearly 1,000 leftist activists, community organisers, lawyers and journalists have gone missing or been murdered since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came to power in 2001.
Her government denies any link to the killings but has been criticised by rights groups and some European governments for failing to stop them.
Joe Torres, a spokesman for the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines, said nearly 50 journalists had been murdered since 2001.
