Murder raps filed vs Catanduanes gov, 2 others

Catanduanes Gov. Joseph Cua and two others were accused of murder at the Department of Justice on Tuesday for the killing of community newspaper publisher Larry Que last year.

Que, who was shot dead last December by a masked assassin in Virac, Catanduanes, barely two weeks after he set up Catanduanes News Now, was the first journalist killed under the Duterte administration.

Accompanied by members of the National Press Club, Edralyn Pangilinan, Que’s common-law wife, filed the complaint against Cua, Prince Lim Subion and Vincent Masagca Tacorda.

Pangilinan claimed her partner’s killing was triggered by his exposés on the role of some local officials in illegal drug trade in the province.

She earlier lodged a criminal complaint of graft, grave misconduct and nonfeasance before the Ombudsman against Cua, Virac Mayor Samuel Laynes and village chair Hilario Sarmiento. —MARLON RAMOS