Palace condemns killing of ex-PDI correspondent

Melinda “Mei” Magsino. PHOTO from Facebook account

MALACAÑANG on Tuesday denounced the slaying of Melinda “Mei” Magsino, a former Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) correspondent.

“We condemn the killing in broad daylight of Melinda Magsino, a crusading journalist while she served previously as a correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement.

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Magsino was shot dead on Monday noon as she was walking along a street in Barangay (village) Balagtas in Batangas City.

A security camera from a nearby shop showed that the gunman approached Magsino and shot her at close range. The perpetrator escaped by riding a black and white motorcycle driven by another man.

Coloma said the Philippine National Police has already ordered Task Force Usig to coordinate “intensive police operations to pursue her assailants and bring the perpetrators before the bar of justice.”

On Monday evening, PDI Publisher Raul Pangalangan released a statement on the death of Magsino, who in 2005 linked a governor to illegal gambling operations, as well as the death of a resident Ombudsman.

He said Magsino was the first PDI correspondent who has been killed.

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