Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct a parallel probe on the killing of Larry Que, a columnist and a publisher of a local newspaper in Catanduanes.
“I would like to give the assurance that justice will be served on the killing of Mr. Larry Que and other victims of media killings,” Aguirre said in a text message to journalists.
Aguirre is the co-chair of the task force created by President Duterte last October to handle the cases of unresolved media killings in the country.
Since 1986, reports stated that a total of 152 media personalities have been killed.
The task force is composed of the secretaries of local governments and national defense, the solicitor general, the executive director of the Presidential Human Rights Committee, and the chiefs of the military and the police.
In his directive, Aguirre ordered the NBI to pursue all angles in the killing of Que last December 19 to identify the perpetrators and the motive.
Que was shot in the head by an unidentified man wearing a bonnet and a raincoat in Virac.
Earlier reports had stated that the gunman fled on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice.
The columnist-publisher died in the hospital on the following day on December 20.
Reports stated that Que was killed on the day his column that blamed the negligence of local government leaders for the existence of the large shabu laboratory in their province came out in his paper.
He wrote in his column item that the discovery of the shabu laboratory brought shame on the province.
Early last month, Dagupan City reporter Virgilio Maganes was also shot inside a tricycle while on his way home. He survived the attack after playing dead. (REY G. PANALIGAN)