MANILA – A reporter of a tabloid newspaper was shot in the head, yesterday, May 27 at the Quezon Boulevard in Quiapo, Manila.
Alex Balcoba, reporter of the People’s Brigada and member of the Manila Police District Press Corp was shot with a .45 caliber pistol by still unidentified men, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP). Balcoba was rushed to the Jose Reyes Medical Center where he died soon after. He was 56.

As of press time, authorities have yet to determine the motive of the killing. The NUJP nevertheless called on authorities to catch Balcoba’s killers and bring them to justice.

“Our country has suffered too long from the impunity with which murder continues to be committed,” the group said. “This early, we urge the incoming administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to ensure an end to the extrajudicial murders that have plagued our blood-soaked land and pledge to uphold our people’s basic rights, particularly freedom of the press and of expression.”

The NUJP said Balcoba is the 174th journalist slain in the line of duty since 1986 and the 34th under the watch of President Benigno Aquino III.