Who ordered the killing of public health officer Dr. George Repique Jr.? 

(image from Dr. Repique’s public google plus account, used here non-commercially for academic purposes

     Dr. George Repique Jr., Cavite provincial health officer, was known to many as a progressive and strong-willed person and a compassionate , competent public health doctor. He was shot dead yesterday on his way home by riding-in-tandem gunmen near the city college in Barangay Luciano, Trece Martires, Cavite.

       There is no first-hand information yet on the identities of the assassins but there is first-hand information on who Dr. George Repique Jr. was.

      When he was a resident surgeon of the Philippine General Hospial (PGH) in the 1990s, my sister, Myraleigh C. Lambino (Myra Lambino) was assigned to the ER (Emergency Room) of the PGH. She worked with him in emergency surgery cases, and knew him even during his internship days.

      Myra recalls that Dr. George Repique Jr., or George, was  actively involved in providing free medical services to the poor and indigent who are the most neglected by the government.

          At the time he was killed, Dr. George Repique Jr. as provincial health officer, was also in charge of approving health projects worth millions of pesos. In particular, he had appeared in the news as a leading advocate for public health and had spearheaded projects for the prevention and eradication of dengue, tuberculosis, and other public health hazards.

      Why would a competent and compassionate public health doctor pose a danger to certain interests that he would be assassinated?

     Whose powerful toes did he step on in his public health work?

      Dr. George Repique Jr. is the third public health officer slain under the Duterte administration.