Work, personal reasons could be behind killing of radio broadcaster: PNP
Motives behind the death of a radio broadcaster in Misamis Occidental while he was airing his program could be linked to work or personal reasons, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Benjamin Acorda, Jr. said Monday.
Juan Jumalon, the station manager of Gold FM 94.7 based in Calamba, Misamis Occidental, was shot by a gunman on Sunday morning in a radio booth at his home. He was the fifth journalist to be killed in the Marcos administration.
“Some motives were mentioned but for the sake of the conduct of the investigation, we don’t want speculations because we don’t want to pre-empt the investigation. There are some angles we are looking into but I am sorry I am not at liberty to divulge these motives or theories,” Acorda told reporters.
“One of the possible angles is that it may have some connection to his work, while the other could be linked to more personal reasons,” he said.
Acorda said the investigation of Jumalon’s case is being conducted by the Police Regional Office 10 (PRO10).
“I just talked with the regional director of PRO 10. They established the SITG (special investigation task group)... They also released a cartographic sketch and they were able to review all the CCTV (closed-circuit television) and we got some of the escape vehicles,” Acorda said.
Acorda said he was “shocked” when he saw the viral video showing how Jumalon was killed.
“Yeah, I was shocked. The way it was done is very blatant and you can really see in those who perpetrated the crime that there is no remorse, like they only killed a chicken. It’s an ugly sight. They really showed lawlessness,” he told reporters.
In a televised briefing, Presidential Task Force on Media Security Undersecretary Paul Guterrez said they are looking at three suspects in the killing of Jumalon.
“I hope by today the witnesses that the SITG got will finish executing the affidavit. They are looking at three suspects here. This morning, they released a computer-generated specimen,” Guiterrez said.
“The media in Mindanao reached out to our agency. They said Jumalon was a decent broadcaster. So I think the worry that it could be work-related might not be the conclusion of this case,” Guiterrez told the “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon” briefing.
“Although we are not discounting of it being work-related, they are saying that angle could far from the reason he was killed. Another angle that is being looked at is an issue the victim had with his enemy about land which reached the court,” Guiterrez said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
