(CMFR/IFEX) – A tabloid reporter managed to escape death after being shot seven times on 14 August 2006 in Valenzuela City, just north of Manila. Roger Panizal, a reporter with the tabloid “Bagong Tiktik”, underwent surgery to remove a bullet from his right arm. He suffered seven gunshot wounds, including wounds to the palms of […]
(CMFR/IFEX) – A tabloid reporter managed to escape death after being shot seven times on 14 August 2006 in Valenzuela City, just north of Manila.
Roger Panizal, a reporter with the tabloid “Bagong Tiktik”, underwent surgery to remove a bullet from his right arm. He suffered seven gunshot wounds, including wounds to the palms of both hands and on the back of his left ear.
Police said the shooting took place at 5:30 a.m. (local time) on the corner of St. Jude and Sta. Juliana streets in Barangay Malinta.
The attack stemmed from a personal grudge with the suspect, identified as Jeorge de Jesus, alias “Boy Demonyo” (Boy Demon).
Panizal’s son, Rommel, himself a reporter for the same paper, said his father is the current secretary of the E. Martin Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association and was involved in a fistfight with the suspect in July. The victim confronted the suspect three weeks ago for parking another vehicle ahead of him.
Sources said Boy Demonyo is a notorious robber who mainly victimises students and employees on jeepneys [a form of public transit] and in crowded streets.
Panizal was driving along MacArthur Highway at the corner of Gov. Santiago Street when an unidentified man standing in front of a gasoline station flagged him down and asked him for a ride to a nearby village.
“Panizal had no idea that the suspect was in cahoots with this passenger who, upon alighting, coincided with the appearance of Boy Demonyo, armed with a 9 mm calibre pistol, from a dark section of the street,” police investigators said.
The suspect was about to approach Panizal, but the latter sensed danger when they were a few metres apart.
Despite his injury, Panizal managed to run, but the suspect shot him again, grazing the back of his left ear.
