Remate columnist shot dead, 3rd journalist killed in Masbate

A columnist of the tabloid Remate was gunned down by motorcycle-riding killers in Milagros town, Masbate Monday morning, media reported. News reports said Joaquin Briones was shot four times in the back along Bombon Bridge, Sitio Feeder Road in Barangay Bacolod around 8:45 a.m. Briones was also popularly known as “Dos por Dos,” for the local radio program he used to host. He also used to publish the Masbate Tribune. Known as a hard-hitting journalist, Briones was convicted in 2000 to more than 12 years in jail for libel and was granted parole after serving almost half his sentence in 2005, records of the National Union of Journalists show.

He was the third Masbate journalist murdered since 2003 when Nelson Nedura was killed December 2 that year and Antonio Castillo was murdered on June 12, 2009. Jun Briones is the second journalist killed under the Duterte administration both of whom are from the Bicol Region. Larry Que, publisher of local paper Catanduanes News Now, was shot by an unidentified gunman December 20, 2016.

Reference:

Rowena Cahiles
Program Coordinator
NUJP-IFJ Media Safety Office
NUJP Hotline: 09175155991