MANILA— A government task force dedicated to protecting the media on Saturday said the death of Samar-based journalist Jess Malabanan might not be related to his line of work, as journalists nationwide condemned his brazen killing this week.

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Malabanan, a correspondent of Manila Standard, was reportedly shot in the head in Calbayog, Samar while watching television on Wednesday night.

Presidential Task Force on Media Security Executive Director Joel Egco alleged that Malabanan's death might not be due to his job as a journalist as he was known to have written "feel good" articles based on their interviews with his colleagues.

Egco also noted that there were "positive developments" in Malabanan's case, which he said he could not share for now. He said Malabanan was his former colleague at the Standard and was his friend.

"Si Jess ay correspondent po ng Manila Standard noong siya ay napaslang, so tinatanong ko po, tinanong ko 'yung mga kasamahan natin sa Standard kung sino ba ang binabanatan, sino ba ang tinitira? Wala naman po dahil puro feel-good stories ang kanyang sinusulat," Egco explained in a public briefing.

(He was a correspondent for Manila Standard when he was killed, so I asked his colleagues there who he was attacking, they said there was none because he wrote feel-good stories.)

"Karamihan ng biktima po ng pagpaslang ay mayroon din pong ibang dealings, may personal, may personal na kaaway, may negosyo, at samu’t sari pa pong dahilan kung bakit sila ay nalagay sa kapahamakan, halimbawa po ay nitong si Jess Malabanan," he added.

(Many of those who died had other dealings, had personal enemies, businesses, and other reasons why they were killed. For example, Jess Malabanan.)

What Egco failed to note, however, is the fact that Malabanan was a stringer for Reuters.

The slain journalist worked on Reuters' Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of President Rodrigo Duterte's drug crackdown in the Philippines in 2017.

A quick search of Malabanan's work on Manila Standard also showed that he wrote about various issues, such as the case against Mabalacat City's mayor, police operations in Tarlac, and drug raids in Central Luzon.

But he said Malabanan earlier expressed his plans to retire and focus instead on farming in Samar, where he could have clashed with someone regarding land issues.

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"Sinisilip po natin 'yan, yang usaping lupa, other than baka may mga nakakaaway niya doon at doon tayo nakasentro ngayon doon sa lugar kung saan siya pinaslang," he said.

(We are looking into possible land issues. Maybe he clashed with someone, which is why we are focused on the place where he was killed.)

Egco also said that propagandists should stop the narrative that members of the media are being targeted in the country as there is "an ocean of reasons" why they could be killed.

"Just like in so many other cases of killings, marami po ang dahilan ay talagang personal, negosyo minsan… iba’t iba po, samu’t sari po. Kaya doon sa mga nagsasabi na wow, parang ang mga media sa Pilipinas ay pinapatay, huwag po kayo basta-basta maniwala," he said.

(There are so many reasons. It could be personal or business-related. Which is why to those who are saying that the media personnel in the Philippines are being killed, don't believe it.)

"In most cases incidental po talaga na sila ay media at may iba silang nasagasaan o personal na nakagalit. Ganun po 'yun, no exception… so don’t believe in the propaganda that journalists are really being directly targeted here for being journalists. There are so many, there’s an ocean of reasons."

(In most cases, they are just incidental and they clashed with somebody or had personal enemies. Journalists are not exempted.)

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines' Pampanga provincial chapter has condemned the "senseless killing" and demanded justice for his death.

The Philippines is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, and most of their killers go unpunished.

The Philippine National Police said it mobilized a task group to coordinate all actions of regional investigative units regarding Malabanan's shooting. It is now working to obtain copies of CCTV footage that might help in the probe.

In a report issued in October before the latest killings, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists listed the Philippines at seventh place in its Global Impunity Index, with 13 murders of journalists still unsolved.

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