Malacanang denounces killing of Batangas-based journalist

Slain journalist Melinda ‘Mei’ Magsino (Facebook photo)

MANILA — The Palace on Tuesday decried the killing of journalist Melinda Magsino by a motorcycle-riding man in Batangas City Monday noon.

“We condemn the killing in broad daylight of Melinda Magsino, a crusading journalist while she served previously as a correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer,” Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement.

“Task Force Usig of the Philippine National Police is coordinating intensive police operations to pursue her assailants and bring the perpetrators before the bar of justice,” he added.

Police investigation showed that Magsino, 41, was shot in the head by an unidentified man in the village of Balagtas, Batangas City.

Reports said Magsino, on Sunday, posted on her Facebook account that she was being harassed and threatened by several accounts with a single Internet Protocol (IP) address.

Also, the journalist has reportedly received death threats after PDI published series of her report on illegal gambling in 2005.