Palace Denounces Killing of Another Tagum City-based Journalist

(PNA) — Malacanang on Wednesday decried the killing of the publisher of a Tagum City-based newspaper.

“We strongly condemn the killing of Mr. Gregory Ybanez, President of the Davao del Norte Press and Radio-TV Club in Tagum City, Davao del Norte last night,” Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement.

Coloma said the Philippine National Police (PNP) has been “tasked with pursuing the suspects and bringing them to the bar of justice.”

Police reports said Ybanez, publisher of weekly paper Kabuhayan News Services, was shot infront of his house in the village of Magugpo, Tagum City at around 10:25 Tuesday night.

He was immediately rushed to the Bishop Regan Hospital but died at about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday after suffering from four gunshot wounds.

He was the second Tagum City-based journalist killed after Rogelio Butalid of Radyo Natin in December 2013. (PNA) RMA/JSV/EDS