Robbed tabloid columnist dies

Nixon Kua

CAMP PACIANO RIZAL, Laguna, Philippines—Tabloid columnist Nixon Kua, who was shot by suspected robbers Saturday, passed away Monday evening, according to a close friend of the family.

Kua, who was also former Philippine Tourism Authority chief, died at 10:35 p.m., his longtime friend Milo dela Cruz told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Kua was shot in the face with a bullet entering below his eye and hitting his brain. He was kept in the intensive care unit of the Calamba Medical Center but doctors declared Kua “brain dead” as of Monday morning, Dela Cruz said.

Kua’s family and the police had yet to issue a statement on his demise.

Four suspected robbers shot Kua as he, his wife and two daughters were about to enter his brother’s home in the posh Ayala Greenfield Subdivision in Calamba City, Laguna on Saturday evening. His brother, Allyxon, was also wounded in the attack.

The suspected robbers fled with some P90,000 in payroll money that Kua was to going pay the workers of the house he was constructing in the same subdivision.

The Laguna provincial government has announced a P200,000 reward for information that would lead to the capture of Kua’s attackers.

Kua was also formerly a stringer for international news agencies.

Outspoken journalists are routinely attacked in the Philippines, which is rated by watchdog groups as one of the most dangerous places for members of the press.

Four journalists have been killed since January, raising the total number of media workers murdered in the Philippines to 153 since democracy was restored in 1986, according to rights groups.