Masbate publisher stabbed dead

MANILA, Philippines—A publisher of a provincial newspaper in Masbate City died from multiple stab wounds after an unidentified assailant stabbed him outside a bar in the city just before dawn on Saturday, police said.

SPO1 Zandro Cabintoy, police officer in charge of the case at the city police office, said an unidentified assailant stabbed Ariel Lerit, 48, publisher of Masbate Times and also the chief of Barangay Anas, in front of the Eighteen Seventeen Bar and Grill along Ibañez Street in Barangay JT Fernandez at 12:50 a.m.

Lerit had just left the bar and was waiting for a tricycle to ride home when he was he approached and repeatedly stabbed by the assailant.

Lerit was in the company of his errand boy, Bobby Bornelio, 44, but the latter was left unharmed by the assailant who immediately fled to an unknown direction.

Cabintoy said Bornelio, who is now the main witness to the crime, saw the suspect wearing a black jacket and having a brief chat with Lerit before pulling a knife and repeatedly stabbing Lerit on the right side of the body. Cabintoy said Lerit was rushed to the Masbate Provincial Hospital in the city but died while being treated.

Cabintoy said they have no leads yet to indicate that Lerit’s killing was related to his work as publisher of the weekly Masbate Times.

Masbate Times, which has been in existence for almost 10 years, discusses local and national issues. The four- to six-page tabloid-size publication had sometimes angered local politicians, added Cabintoy.

He said investigation was ongoing while an autopsy has been conducted on Lerit’s body. Shiena M. Barrameda, Inquirer Southern Luzon