Newspaper executive shot in Koronadal City

Koronadal City — A 25-year-old employee of a local weekly here was shot and critically wounded in nearby General Santos City early yesterday morning, a police official said.

Danilo Aguirre, marketing executive of the Socsksargen-based The Mindanao Bulletin and special project officer of the Mindanao Media Services, a PR consultancy firm managed by the Jubelag family based in General Santos City, was rushed to the Doctor’s Clinic and Hospital for treatment.

As of press time yesterday, Aguirre is still in critical condition due to a gunshot wound on the lower part of his hips. Aguirre was shot along Sampaguita Street at around 8:15 a.m.

In a certificate of employment issued this afternoon by the Mindanao Bulletin, the office certified that Aguirre is also a correspondent because of several "developmental stories" he wrote.

Senior Superintendent Alfredo Toroctocon, city director of the General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO), said the investigators are still determining the identity of the gunman.

Toroctocon told The STAR in a telephone interview that Aguirre was on his way home from a local sari-sari (convenience) store to buy shampoo when he was shot by the gunman.

The gunman reportedly attempted to shoot Aguirre again but failed.

Seeing the arrival of other people, the assassin immediately boarded a red Krypton motorcycle, with a temporary license plate, parked a few meters from the crime scene.

Toroctocon said one of the angles being looked into by police investigators was personal motive.

"We are pursuing a personal grudge as the possible motive," Toroctocon said.

John Paul Jubelag, managing editor of the Mindanao Bulletin and provincial correspondent of The STAR in General Santos City, condemned the shooting.

His brother, Jeffrey, news editor of the Mindanao Bulletin and regional chairman of the PNP-12 Regional Press Corps, said before the incident that his mother, Cecilia, had informed him that a motorcycle has passed the office several times.

"I was surprised when the Labajo Funeral home called me that somebody from Mindanao Bulletin was shot," said Joseph Jubelag, the paper’s executive editor and provincial correspondent of Malaya for Socsksargen area.

The Jubelag brothers, including their hard-hitting columnist, Manila Times correspondent Isagani Palma, have been receiving death threats for publishing and criticizing local government officials involved in anomalies and other corrupt practices.

General Santos City Councilor Eduardo Leyson, a close friend of the Jubelag brothers, said that it could possibly be a case of "mistaken identity."

Several media personalities have been shot dead in the city, among them Ely Binoya of Radyo Natin of the Manila Broadcasting Company based in Malungon, Sarangani and Jonathan Abayon of RGMA-General Santos City. — With AFP