A communications consultant of the Department of Finance and his brother were shot dead by a gunman on a motorcycle in San Juan Thursday night, police said.

A police report, quoting a witness named Jerome Abayon, said the back rider of a motorcycle without a plate number fired at the vehicle of Michael Marasigan and his brother Christopher at 6:10 pm along V, Cruz, corner Barcelona, San Juan.

Michael Marasigan, the finance department consultant, died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds while Christopher expired at the San Juan Medical Hospital.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct a parallel probe into the killing of the Marasigans. .

In a department order, Aguirre directed the NBI to determine the perpetrators and the real motives behind the attack that killed former Business World editor Michael Marasigan and his brother.

Aguirre also serves as the head of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security.

“As the designated head of the President Duterte’s Task Force on Media Security, I am duty-bound to order this probe to get to the bottom of the attack. Our goal is to prevent similar attacks in the future. We want our NBI to explore all angles,” he stressed

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has expressed shock and deep sadness over the death of Michael Marasigan, a statement by the finance department said..

“I am both saddened and shocked,” Dominguez said. “My deepest condolences go to the family of Mike and that of his brother, Christopher."

"I have known Mike for over 30 years," Dominguez said. "I and his peers held him in very high regard for his skills and thorough professionalism."

“Mike, who always had a kind word to everyone he meets, was a highly respected journalist and public relations man. As my communications consultant, he was always prompt, thorough and very good at what he did, which was to assist the DOF in relaying its key messages and programs to the public,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez called on law enforcement authorities to find and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law the perpetrators behind the killing.

Marasigan was a former editor of Business Day and pioneered one of the country's first digitized newspapers?BusinessWorld Online, becoming its first online chief editor. He was also an independent producer for the Living Asia channel and the creator of ourphilippines.tv. DMS