Gunman kills veteran journalist in Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY – An unidentified gunman shot dead a journalist in an attack in the southern Philippine city of Tagum, his colleagues said on Wednesday. 

Ciriaco Conejos said police are investigating the shooting of Gregorio Ybañes, president of the Davao del Norte Press and Radio Club. 

He said the 65-year old veteran was shot outside his house in Mirafuentes Subdivision in Magugpo North village on Tuesday evening and died in the hospital the next morning. “It was a sad day for us,” Conejos, the club’s vice president, told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner. 

Conejos said journalists and media workers were preparing a rally to condemn the killing of Ybañes, who was also a board director at the Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative at the time of his murder. 

The motive of the killing remains unknown, but Conejos said the victim just came from the cooperative’s board meeting at the Big 8 Hotel in Tagum. “The gunman, who was waiting in a car outside Ybañes’ house, shot him as he was about to open the gate. The assailant escaped after the shooting,” Conejos said. 

Cesar Lanos, also a colleague of Ybañes, said the journalist was shot several times. “He was shot several times while entering his house at around ten o’clock in the evening,” he said, adding, “Ybañes was rushed to hospital, but was pronounced dead this morning at six o’clock by attending physicians.” 

No individual claimed responsibility for the killing of Ybañes. His family did not issue any statement. (Mindanao Examiner)

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