Police: Iloilo City radioman slay is drug-related

POLICE investigators are verifying findings that the slay of radio block timer Neil “Lito” Jimena was drug-related.

Police Regional Office (PRO)-Western Visayas probers admitted on the possibility that the motive behind the assassination of Jimena is drug-related, considering all the alleged personalities involved in illegal drug trades and activities in Iloilo City can probably lead to the identification of suspects.

Jimena was allegedly an asset or informant of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) of the Iloilo City Police Office Intelligence Section, formerly headed by his friend Superintendent Musa Amiong.

Investigators also considered that in 2009, two unidentified assailants attempted to kill Jimena at Victorias City in Negros Occidental. Those two were believed to be the same suspects who shot and killed him last August 22.

An incident under the Infante flyover in Iloilo City involving drug pushers and Jimena some four years ago was also taken into consideration.

Chief Superintendent Cipriano E Querol Jr., chief of PRO-Western Visayas, earlier ordered the creation of Special Investigation Task Group Jimena right after the death of the radioman, at the national highway in Bangga Maravilla, Barangay 3 in EB Magalona, Negros Occidental.

Jimena was shot dead by two unidentified suspects riding a motorcycle.

Slugs and two empty shells of caliber .45 pistol recovered from the crime scene were already submitted to the Negros Occidental Police Crime Laboratory for ballistic examination.

Likewise, the cellular phone of the victim was already submitted by Police Chief Inspector Ray V. Cuanico, chief of the Provincial Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for verification.

The surveillance camera footage from a local gasoline station in EB Magalona is being reviewed and studied by the Provincial CIDG to determine the possible identification of the perpetrators.

Early speculation from Jimena’s friends was that Jimena was killed due to his radio attacks and commentaries against Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.

The city mayor, however, said he has nothing to do with the killing and had asked the regional police office and the National Bureau of Investigation to help hasten the investigation. (Lydia C. Pendon)