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Former journalist gunned down in Batangas
(Updated 8:53 p.m.)A former media practitioner who has received death threats in the past was shot dead in Batangas City in Batangas province at noon on Monday.
Melinda "Mei" Magsino, 41, a former Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent, was shot in the head in Barangay Balagtas, Batangas City police head Superintendent Manuel Castillo said in a report on GMA’s dzBB.
Initial investigation showed an unidentified man shot Magsino and fled aboard a motorcycle.
"The list of murdered journalists here is too long. I have to survive. I don't want to become another statistic," Magsino said in a 2005 article about her which appeared on the American Journalism Review.
When the article was written, Magsino was in hiding, due to threats she received after her series on illegal gambling and its links to a politician were published by the Inquirer.
Two years later, in 2007, Magsino wrote an story for the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism about Batangas Governor Armando Sanchez, who was at the time alleged to be an operator of an illegal numbers game.
On Monday, Magsino died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Mysterious messages
A day before she was shot, posts on Magsino’s Facebook account showed that she was being harassed by several accounts with a single Internet Protocol address.
In her personal investigation, Magsino discovered that the accounts were owned by a councilor from a town in Batangas.
“I have been receiving these bastos messages for two days na. When I had the IP address traced, this is what we got. Konsehal ng bayan ng Bauan, Batangas pala ang gumagawa,” she wrote Sunday evening.
The messages sent to Magsino by the alleged Batangas counselor included pictures of male genitalia and threats against Magsino.
If Magsino’s death is related to her work as a journalist, data from the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility show that she will be the 27th Philippine media worker killed under the Aquino administration. —Joel Locsin and Patricia Chiu/KG, GMA News
Melinda "Mei" Magsino, 41, a former Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent, was shot in the head in Barangay Balagtas, Batangas City police head Superintendent Manuel Castillo said in a report on GMA’s dzBB.
Initial investigation showed an unidentified man shot Magsino and fled aboard a motorcycle.
"The list of murdered journalists here is too long. I have to survive. I don't want to become another statistic," Magsino said in a 2005 article about her which appeared on the American Journalism Review.
When the article was written, Magsino was in hiding, due to threats she received after her series on illegal gambling and its links to a politician were published by the Inquirer.
Two years later, in 2007, Magsino wrote an story for the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism about Batangas Governor Armando Sanchez, who was at the time alleged to be an operator of an illegal numbers game.
On Monday, Magsino died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Mysterious messages
A day before she was shot, posts on Magsino’s Facebook account showed that she was being harassed by several accounts with a single Internet Protocol address.
In her personal investigation, Magsino discovered that the accounts were owned by a councilor from a town in Batangas.
“I have been receiving these bastos messages for two days na. When I had the IP address traced, this is what we got. Konsehal ng bayan ng Bauan, Batangas pala ang gumagawa,” she wrote Sunday evening.
The messages sent to Magsino by the alleged Batangas counselor included pictures of male genitalia and threats against Magsino.
If Magsino’s death is related to her work as a journalist, data from the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility show that she will be the 27th Philippine media worker killed under the Aquino administration. —Joel Locsin and Patricia Chiu/KG, GMA News
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