Romeo Binungcal

Just this week, another news correspondent, Romeo Binungcal, 43, was killed in Pilar, Bataan.He was helpless when this incident happened, shot four times in the head and body, and died on the spot.

Senior Police Officer 4 Jose Tan of the Pilar Municipal Police Station said the victim was Romeo Binungcal, 43, a correspondent of Bulgar and Remate, and editor of the Bataan-based Mount Samat Forum.
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Supt. Elmer Macapagal, Bataan PNP director, is leading the policemen and investigators in going after the killers of Binungcal, a low profile newsman and member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo.

Senior Insp.
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The killing of Binungcal alarmed Bataan newsmen because this was the third time that a journalist was killed in the province.
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Few years later, Ruben Manrique, publisher of the Luzon Tribune, a weekly newspaper based here, was also shot and killed by unidentified gunmen a few meters away from where Binungcal was killed.
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Reports also say that Binungcal was into the buy-and-sell of cell phones and motorcycles.

Late Wednesday, an unidentifed man sent a text message to a newsman here, warning that this was the start of their campaign to kill newsmen."Nag -sample na kami.Siguro naman, kilala ninyo itong kagaya mong media," the text message sent to a newsman said.The text message sent newsmen into a panic since Binungcal was a silent man, who usually stand by police stations in the province.

The victim allegedly ran a massage parlor in Sta.Rosa, Pilar town, which is an alleged center for prostitution and drug dealing area.He was also said to have been involved in buying and selling of cell phones and motorcycles.R.Supnad, J. Due and F. Legaspi

Romeo Binungcal, 43, married, a correspondent of Bulgar and Remate and a former local news writer of Samat Forum, sustained 14 gunshot wounds in the different parts of his body and head.

Binungcal is the seventh journalist who was killed this year, records showed.Since 1984, 55 cases (including Binungcal's) involving mediamen have been recorded by the Philippine National Police with only 14 of them being solved.

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