A radio broadcaster was shot dead by two unidentified men on board a motorcycle in Sitio Licsab in Barangay (village) San Blas in Villasis, Pangasinan, early this morning.
Major Fernando Fernandez told ABS-CBN News that the victim, radio commentator Virgilio “Vir” Maganes, was about to enter his home when he was shot six times by the assailants at 6:30am. He died from a bullet in the head.
The suspects fled towards the village’s south direction.
Read: PH has most unresolved journalist killings in the world, says New York-based watchdog
Ariel Tugare, the victim’s nephew, told Bombo Radyo that his uncle did not receive any death threats before being killed.
According to the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines, Maganes’ killing could be related to the previous attempt to murder him in November 2016 when gunmen shot him while onboard a tricycle. He played dead while the killers left a cardboard sign near him, saying, “Drug pusher, don’t be like me.”
Maganes is the 18th journalist killed in President Rodrigo Duterte’s term and the 190th since 1986.
“His death is an indictment of this government’s empty boast that press freedom is alive and well in the country,” the organization said.
The police are currently investigating the crime.
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