A motorcycle-riding assailant shot and killed veteran publisher and journalist Juan Dayang while he was watching television at his home in Kalibo, capital of the central province of Aklan, on April 29, 2025. The reporter was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital from gunshot wounds to the neck and back.
A police-led special investigation task force identified the assassin as BB Boy Kim Wency Bayang Antonio, who had a prior criminal record, Police Brigadier General Jack Wanky, director of the Western Visayas police told the Philippine Inquirer. Antonio is also suspected of being a contract killer.
Wanky said Antonio rented motorcycles on at least three occasions to conduct surveillance and familiarize himself with Dayang’s neighborhood and routine before the assassination, according to CCTV footage reviewed by the police task force. He told the Philippine Inquirer police investigators were pursuing leads to identify the individual or group that allegedly ordered the hit without elaborating further.
The police task force stated that Antonio briefly checked into a hotel in Kalibo and then departed Western Visayas by a flight from Iloilo International Airport on May 2. He was last seen traveling alone and carrying a light backpack.
The Presidential Task Force on Media Security, a separate state body tasked with investigating media murders, described the attack as a “heinous act” and said it was coordinating with “all concerned agencies” to resolve the case.
Jose Torres Jr., the task force’s executive director, told the Philippine News Agency that, in regard to Dayang’s murder, his agency considers any killing of a media personality as work-related until it is proven otherwise in court.
Torres told CPJ by email on July 23 that the cases was “actively advancing” and “authorities are following new leads that could identify those responsible for the crime.” He said the preliminary investigation was complete and had been submitted for resolution.
Dayang, 89, began working as a journalist with the state-run Philippines News Service. In the 1990s, he served as publisher of the local Philippines Graphic magazine and the now-defunct Headline Manila daily newspaper and headed the Publishers Association of the Philippines Incorporated for two decades.
Dayang also served as president of the Manila Overseas Press Club and later became mayor of Kalibo, following the country’s 1986 People Power Revolution.