Gunmen shoot Pangasinan reporter dead

A journalist who survived an assassination attempt in November 2016 was shot dead at his home in Villasis, Pangasinan this morning, November 10.

Virgilio “Vir” Maganes, a reporter of local newspaper Northern Watch and commentator of local radio station DWPR, was shot at 6:30 AM in front of his residence at Sitio Licsab, Barangay San Blas.

A police spot report said Maganes was about to enter their residential compound when the killers fired at him six times, killing him immediately.

Maganes was hit on the head and other parts of the body.

In 2016, Maganes survived a gun attack while on board a tricycle and was wounded on his torso.

He played dead as the tricycle careened on the side of the road but saw his assailant put a hand-written placard near him accusing him of being a drug personality.

The placard read: “Drug pusher huwag pamarisan”, in what the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said may be seen as an attempt to divert attention from the real motive for the slay try.

Maganes denied ever being involved in illegal drugs.

The victim was a known critic of local politicians he accused in his reports and radio programs of being illegal gambling operators.

In its alert, the NUJP said Maganes would be the 18th journalist murdered during the Rodrigo Duterte administration and the 190th since 1986.

The Presidential Task Force on Media Security told Kodao that it has dispatched investigators to Pangasinan to look into Maganes’ killing.

The victim turned 62 years old last November 7. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)