* Veteran media practitioner and dyCM Cebu station manager Sam Costanilla, 68, was found dead inside his parked vehicle in Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City, on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026.
* Children passing along the road noticed a foul smell coming from the vehicle at 8:35 a.m. Sunday and discovered Costanilla unresponsive in the driver's seat.
* CCTV footage showed the vehicle had been parked near the Inayawan Barangay Hall since Friday morning, Sept. 25, after Costanilla finished newscasting at dyCM radio station
VETERAN media practitioner Sam Costanilla was found dead inside his vehicle on Sunday morning, Sept. 27, 2026, in Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City.
Costanilla was found in the driver’s seat of his vehicle, which had been parked in front of the annex building of the Inayawan Barangay Hall since Friday, Sept. 25, according to barangay watchmen.
At 8:35 a.m. Sunday, children passing along the road noticed a foul smell coming from the vehicle. When they checked, they saw Costanilla inside, unresponsive.
Juniño Padilla, Costanilla’s boss at DotTV Nationwide, said he became concerned after the broadcaster failed to respond to his text messages and calls.
Costanilla’s brother, Monching, 70, confirmed that the man found dead was his younger brother.
Based on closed-circuit television footage from the barangay command center, Costanilla’s vehicle was parked in the area at 8:22 a.m. on Friday.
The vehicle had come from radio dyCM, where Costanilla had finished newscasting before parking in the area.
Costanilla, 68, was a resident of Inayawan. He was the station manager of dyCM Cebu, entertainment chief of DotTV Nationwide and a writer-director.
The exact circumstances surrounding his death had yet to be established. / VLM