The head of a local press group association in Davao has been killed in an ambush in Tagum City on Tuesday.
The country has been overtaken by a rash of media murders is recent year, this time it hit home for Mindanao once again.
67-year-old Gregory Ybanez was shot several times in front of his home in Tagum city on Tuesday – he died several hours later at hospital.
Ybanez was the president of the Press Radio and TV Club in the province of Davao del Norte and publisher of a local weekly publication called “Bell of the Community.”
The press group’s vice-president, Ciriaco Conejos told the AFP he believes the killing was due to a leadership rift in a local power company where Ybanez was a member of the board.
While the Philippines is known throughout the world as being a dangerous place for journalists, local colleagues said they did not believe Ybanez’s murder was related to his work within the media.
Sources say that in 2012 a funeral wreath was delivered to Ybanez’s home – a wreath delivered to a living person is often a sign of a death threat in the Philippines.