IMMEDIATELY after the death of retired Kalinga broadcaster Jose Daguio, the Police Cordillera Regional Office (ProCor) re-activated task force (TF) Usig to investigate the killing.
Simultaneous with the creation of the task force to investigate Daguio's killing is the creation of TFs Kalinga and Abra. One is called TF Chico River and the other TF Abra.
In a press briefing Friday, ProCor Director Villamor Bumanglag said police aim to maintain the peace, after noting that shortly after the elections, violence in these two provinces increased.
"Firearms are being used," he said.
Bumanglag did not qualify if these incidents are related to politics because Abra ang Kalinga are election hotspots in the region.
In the case of Daguio, Bumanglag said the Kalinga Police Provincial Office is exploring three possible motives.
One could be related to his being a former media man, a family land dispute and knowledge of the activities of an alleged cattle rustling group in Kalinga.
Bumanglag said a witness has surfaced, which led to the identification of five people, whom they had just sued at the Kalinga Prosecutor's Office Friday morning.
Bumanglag said the creation of a TF was not because Daguio happened to be a former member of media, but because investigation and identification of suspects is part of their job.
Daguio, 75, was shot last July 3, while he was having dinner in his home in Barangay Tuga, Tabuk City.
He sustained wounds on the right side of his body from a shotgun and was rushed to the Kalinga Provincial Hospital. He was declared dead on arrival.
Daguio was a veteran commentator of Radyo Natin-Tabuk and a part-time columnist of a community newspaper. (Rimaliza Opiña)