Image by Tony Webster/CC BY-SA 4.0 • A reporter of People’s Brigada tabloid was killed in a gun attack in Quiapo, Manila
• Malacañang Palace extended its sympathies to the victim’s family
• The victim was the 2nd journalist to be murdered this year and the 34th since 2010 when President Aquino came to power
A reporter was killed by an unknown assailant on Friday evening, May 27, in Manila’s Quiapo district.
56-year-old Alex Balcoba Sr., a reporter of People’s Brigada tabloid, was talking to a friend in front of a watch repair shop and water-refilling station owned by his family when the assailant appeared and shot him in the head using a .45 caliber pistol.
Rita Salonga of DZRH News said the suspect fled the scene onboard a motorcycle driven by an accomplice. Balcoba was rushed to the Jose Reyes Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
According to an official of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Balcoba was the second journalist to be murdered in the country this year, and the 34th since 2010 when President Benigno Aquino III came to power.
Balcoba was a director of the Manila Police District Press Corps.
Malacañang Palace condemned Balcoba’s killing and vowed to go after his assailants.
Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said the Palace sympathizes with the victim’s family.
“Unang-una ay nakikiramay po tayo sa pamilya ni Alex Balcoba, reporter ng pahayagang People’s Brigada, na napaslang kahapon sa Quiapo, Lungsod ng Maynila. Kinokondena po natin ang krimeng ito at kasalukuyang sinisayasat ito ng Philippine National Police upang alamin at tugisin kung sino man ang maaaring naging responsible,” Coloma said in a radio interview.
[First of all we sympathize with Alex Balcoba’s family, reporter of People’s Brigada, who was slain yesterday in Quiapo, City of Manila. We condemn this crime and the Philippine National Police is currently investigating this to identify and to go after those who were responsible]
Balcoba left behind a wife and two young children.
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