The associate publisher of a provincial weekly has been threatened with death after her paper published a news story on three policemen who allegedly tried to extort money from an illegal drugs dealer.

Associate publisher Grace Santos was threatened after her paper, Sipol (Whistle), printed a story on the arrest of three local policemen for the alleged extortion. "Sipol" is a weekly based in Angeles City, Pampanga, approximately 80 kilometres north of Manila.

Sipol's "Entrapment in the Camp, Three Cops Arrested" appeared in its Jan. 13-17, 2008 issue.

The paper based its report on the official complaint of a suspected drug dealer against the three police officers from the Drug Enforcement Unit of the local police.

Santos claimed that she has been receiving threats on her cell phone and that an unknown man on a motorcycle has been watching her residence. Santos has gone into hiding, according to the local press group Angeles City Press and Radio Club.