Unidentified suspects shot Joaquin Briones, a columnist for tabloid newspaper Remate and a former radio commentator, four times in the back on the morning of March 13, 2017 in the town of Milagros, in the island province of Masbate. The killers reportedly fled on a motorcycle. Police said they suspected either local politics or a personal grudge as the motive, but the managing editor of Remate said she believed the death was linked to Briones’ work. She noted that he had reported on sensitive topics including illegal fishing, gambling and drug trafficking, and she said that Briones had received numerous death threats for his reporting.