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Claims that Masbate journo victim of gov't attack malicious

By Priam Nepomuceno

November 19, 2020, 5:02 pm

<p>Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Jr., Southern Luzon Command chief (<em>PNA File photo</em>)</p>

Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Jr., Southern Luzon Command chief (PNA File photo)

MANILA – Claims that freelance journalist Ronnie Villamor is another victim of alleged government attack is outrightly malicious and without any basis to stand on.

This, according to Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) chief, Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Jr., after some sectors claimed that Villamor, who was shot dead during an encounter with government security troops in Milagros town, Masbate last November 14, was a victim of such.

"The media in our Area of Responsibility (AOR) are our partners and we protect them. For Rappler to insinuate that Ronnie Villamor is another alleged victim of government attack, is outrightly malicious and without any basis to stand on," he said in a statement forwarded to the Philippine News Agency Thursday.

He clarified that troops deployed in the area were looking for armed men, not Villamor, reported to them by concerned citizens.

"The troops, when they responded to the reported presence of armed men in the area, did not go there to locate Villamor, as they were focused on the armed group up an adjacent hill which turned out to be armed security guards who were deployed by their agency without coordination with the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), PNP (Philippine National Police), and barangay officials within the AOR," he added.

Based on reports, Parlade said Villamor tried to escape onboard his motorcycle upon seeing the responding troops, ignoring local officials who were preventing him and four others from escaping.

"He also ignored the warning shot. Instead, he drew a firearm as his motorcycle slipped on the road. This prompted the troops to take him down," he added.

No one in the province, he said, was aware of Villamor's occupation as a freelance journalist, adding that it was only the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) who identified him as one.

"We detest that malicious report of Rappler. They are consistent in spreading fake news in the hope of destroying the credibility of the AFP and the PNP," he added. (PNA)

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