Suspects eyed in slay of Pangasinan mediaman

By Liezle Basa Inigo and Venus May H. Sarmiento

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Investigators of Police Regional Office 1 (PRO-1) have already come up with a list of leads and persons of interest who may have had a hand in the killing of mediaman Virgilio Maganes on Tuesday morning, Nov. 10.
    This was confirmed by PRO1 Director Brig. Gen. Rodolfo Azurin, Jr., who vowed that “no matter who gets caught, and who gets hurt, justice will be served” on those responsible for the murder of Maganes.
    Azurin said the persons of interest were identified through CCTV footages near the crime scene.
    “Rest assured, those responsible for this murder would be found and brought to justice,” Azurin said.    
    Maganes was gunned down by unidentified assailants as he was about to return to his residence in Sitio Licsab, Barangay San Blas in Villasis, Pangasinan early Tuesday.
    The Ilocos Police Regional Office’s Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Maganes is now probing the death of Maganes.
    Communications Sec. Martin Andanar also said the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS) will look and act into the matter.
    Azurin, Jr. said he had directed Pangasinan police to form the task group.
    “I directed the provincial director) of Pangasinan to activate SITG Maganes and find the possible motive of the killing, and work for the immediate solution of the case,” Azurin said in a police report.
    He urged the community to help by giving information on identity of the perpetrators as well as the vehicle used in the killing.
    Freelance broadcaster and columnist-writer of the local paper Northern Watch Virgilio "Vir”  Maganes  was gunned down by unidentified assailants in Sitio Licsab, Barangay San Blas in Villasis town.
    Provincial police director Col. Redrico Maranan said initial investigation showed Maganes had just stepped out to buy cigarettes, and was about to return to the family residence around 6:45 a.m. when two men onboard a motorcycle arrived and riddled him with six shots.
    He died on the spot.
    The suspects fled southbound.
    Maranan said police investigators are still determining the motive for the killing and it is not yet clear if the incident has something to do with Maganes’ first gun attack in Nov. 8, 2016 which the victim survived.
    Meanwhile, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines reported a motorcycle-riding gunman fired six times at Maganes, 62, in front of his home here.
    Bombo Radyo Dagupan said he died of a shot to the head.
    Almost exactly four years ago, motorcycle-riding gunmen also fired at Maganes while he was onboard a tricycle.
    The wounded Maganes played dead while those who attempted to take his life left a cardboard sign saying, “Drug pusher, huwag pamarisan (don’t emulate).”
    The NUJP suspects that his killing was related to the botched assassination attempt.
    It added that the earlier incident was unresolved and Maganes was left without protection.
    “This did not, however, stop him from continuing to work as a journalist and Vir represented his chapter at the NUJP's 10th Congress,” the union said.
    According to NUJP’s count, Manganes is the 18th journalist killed during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte and the 190th since 1986.
    “His death is an indictment on this government's empty boast that press freedom is alive and well in the country,” the NUJP said.
    The union demanded authorities to work fast to solve the killing of Maganes.
    Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters that he will immediately refer Maganes’ killing to the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, which he said will first determine whether the killing was work-related and if it is related to the 2016 assassination attempt.