PROSECUTORS have finally filed murder charges against two individuals in connection with the killing of a radioman in Oroquieta City early this year.

A panel of prosecutors handling the February 2009 murder of radioman Ernesto "Ka Ernie" Rollin charged Ruel Jumalon and a John Doe with murder, over four months after the journalist's death.

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Regional State Prosecutor Jaime Umpa said the three-man panel of prosecutors filed the case last week, capping three months of investigation that initially hit a blank wall because no witness came forward to testify Rollin's pre-dawn killing last February 23.

Early on, probers had already listed Jumalon as suspect, but finding him proved to be an uphill battle for law enforcement agencies. Allegedly, Jumalon is a former member of the New People's Army (NPA) and a known hitman in Misamis Occidental.

The break came when the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) arrested the suspect last May 24 on a separate charge.

Jumalon, a resident of Calamba town in Misamis Occidental, was nabbed hours after the killing of SPO1 Juanito Dominguez in Oroquieta City.

Prosecutor Umpa said Jumalon failed to submit his counter-affidavit despite being given ample time to answer the complaint. This, he said, even contributed to the delay in the filing of the case.

Fiscals Ma. Corazon B. Gaite Llanderal, Irene L. Alejado-Meso, and Ma. Aileen G. Aguaviva recommended no bail bond for the suspect.

Proof against Jumalon consists of at least two affidavits that identified him as the gunman. Prosecutors said more witnesses will be presented during the trial. The case had yet to be raffled among the regional trial courts in Cagayan de Oro.

One of the witnesses against Jumalon is Ligaya Barero, Rollin's common-law wife, who is now in Manila and placed under the government's Witness Protection Program.

CIDG and the regional office of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said they are still on the process of determining the identity of the other suspect.

The Philippines has been tagged by international media organizations such as the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres as one of the most dangerous places for journalists.

According to local media watch groups, such as the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, around 100 journalists have been killed in the country since the restoration of democracy in 1986.