Marlene Garcia-Esperat a gunman walked into her house in the city of Tacurong, shot her in front of her family, died instantly from the single bullet wound to her head. The gunman and his accomplice escaped on a motorcycle. An anti-graft columnist for the newspaper the Midland Review in the southern island of Mindanao, Garcia-Esperat, 45, was under police protection as a result of death threats. Local news reports said that on the day of the shooting, she let her two guards leave early for the Easter holiday. Her husband George her murder was connected to a corruption story she wrote, accusing a police officer of illegal logging activity. Tacurong Police Chief Raul Supiter said that no motive had been ruled out, according to the Philippines-based MindaNews news service.On April 11, police announced the arrest of four suspects, including an army sergeant. The four were said to confess their involvement in May, according to local reports. Newspapers have reported several possible leads as to the mastermind; those reports included allegations that two officials from the Mindanao Department of Agriculture, Osmena Montaner and Estrella Sabay, plotted Garcia-Esperat's murder. The officials denied the accusations, but one of the defendants, Randy Barua, a former bodyguard for Sabay, and told police that he hired the gunmen at the behest of Montaner and Sabay, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. Murder charges were brought against the two officials, but a judge dismissed them on August 31 because of what he termed insufficient and conflicting evidence. The Esperat family lawyer, Nena Santos, told the Manila Standard that the dismissal was "highly questionable and suspicious," and that it was a "miscarriage of justice." Santos said the judge made the decision the day before being transferred to another court, and the court clerk did not announce the ruling until September 20.Press freedom groups protested the dismissal of charges against the accused masterminds. The four initial defendants also complained to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Gerry Cabayag, identified as the gunman, said he was afraid of retribution from the two agriculture officials, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.

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