Columnist shot dead in Isabela province

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – Police have yet to identify the gunmen in the killing of a columnist in Alicia town, Isabela last 07 October 2011.  Isabela province is approximately 299 kilometers north of Manila.

At around 7:30 a.m. (local time), two unidentified men riding in  tandem on a motorcycle shot columnist and bank manager Johnson Pascual who was then driving along a highway in Alicia. GMANews Online reported that Pascual sustained a fatal  head wound in his head died on the spot as his car fell on a ravine after going out of control.

Police Chief Inspector Julio Go of the Isabela Provincial Police  told the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) last 11 October 2011 that Pascual was on his way to  the First Isabela Cooperative (FICO) Bank in Cauayan City when the attack happened. Police have not yet established the motive behind the killing.

“Tinitingnan namin lahat ng angles but we do not consider na newsman siya. Wala pa kaming lead but intel driven investigation is ongoing for the possible identification of suspects (We’re looking at all possible angles but we do not consider Pascual a newsman. We do not have any lead but an intelligence- driven investigation is ongoing for the possible identification of suspects),” Go said.

Contrary to the police’s opinion, local journalists described Pascual as a part-time writer who wrote a column twice a month for the local newspaper Quirino Today. Pascual was the manager of FICO Bank in Maddela town, Quirino province at the time of his death. He previously served as an editor for the local tabloid Prime News.

Villamor Visaya Jr., a correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, told CMFR that Pascual had no known enemies and that he rarely addressed sensitive issues in his columns. “Hindi naman siya ganun katindi bumanat sa mga articles niya (He was not that hard-hitting in his articles),” Visaya said.

Visaya said Pascual’s co-workers at the FICO Bank have no idea why the bank manager-columnist was killed. They told police that the columnist-bank manager was not involved in any anomalous bank transaction, Visaya said.

Visaya said that the victim’s family has not issued any statement about the killing.

If found to be work-related, Pascual’s killing would be the 122^nd case of a journalist killed in the line of duty, and the  fifth under the  15-month old Aquino administration.