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Thursday, October 28, 2004
Cops suspect 'deal' as motive for radioman's slay
By Ben Serrano
* President condemns murder, vows to bring killer to justice
* Relatives insist murder was related to expose of illegal drug activities
SURIGAO CITY -- The police here is said to be looking into another angle in the murder of dxSR Real FM radio freelance broadcaster Eldie Sablas Gabillanes at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 19 along the national highway in Barangay Bagong Lungsod.
In a report to the PNP regional office, Tandag town police said aside from a job-related angle in the broadcaster's slay, police are investigating reports about alleged "business dealings" of Gabillanes with a Maranao trader.
It was learned that the broadcaster allegedly loaned his motorcycle worth P35,000 to the trader.
The trouble began when the Maranaw trader supposedly discovered that the motorcycle was mortgaged and is due for repossession by the mortgaging firm.
Police said they have already identified the suspect and the cartographic sketch is due for release anytime soon.
But relatives of the broadcaster insisted the killing was job-related and has something to do with illegal drug activities in the area.
The 31-year-old Gabillanes is a former media liason of Gov. Vicente Pimentel, Jr. during the elections and also works as radio reporter of dxJR FM Real Radio.
It is common practice by some provincial radio stations to sell airtimes to willing takers who can pay rent per hour of the radio station.
The Cagayan de Oro Press Club earlier voiced its condemnation of Gabillanes's killing and also denounced a libel suit filed against a radio broadcaster.
For its part, the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) Commission for the Protection of Journalists said this year is the worst year for Filipino journalists.
Senseless
In a speech read by spokesman Ignacio Bunye on the 52nd Anniversary of the National Press Club (NPC) of the Philippines Tuesday night, President Arroyo said seven of the 12 cases of murdered newsmen this year and 26 of the 55 cases since 1984 have been solved.
Task Force Newsmen, which is headed by Senior Supt. Rodolfo Mendoza, was formed last July to solve once and for all the murders of members of the media.
Arroyo condemned Gabillanes's killing last October 19 even as she vowed to bring the killers to justice.
"I condemn this senseless act of violence against a radio reporter whose mission was to report the truth," she said.
Gabillanes was shot to death by a motorcycle-riding gunman who used a .45 cal pistol in shooting the helpless broadcaster Tuesday morning.
The assassin who positioned himself at a PLDT call office earlier shot Gabillanes who was walking at the national highway in full view of shocked passersby at the busy commercial district of Tandag.
The police later found three empty shells from .45 cal pistol believed to be used in Gabillanes's murder.
Gabillanes was the fifth media worker in Mindanao that was gunned down in cold blood by assassins.
It was also in Tandag, Surigao del Sur where a radioman almost got killed after some unidentified gunmen shot him at the height of the last local elections.
Relatives of mediamen who were gunned down in Mindanao are still searching for justice after police failed to arrest the true killers of the broadcasters. Most victims were radio broadcasters. (With Sunnex)
(October 28, 2004 issue)
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