A RADIO news anchor in Misamis Occidental was shot dead while having a live broadcast on Sunday morning, November 5, 2023.
The police identified the victim as Juan Jumalon, also known as Johnny Walker, 57, radio broadcaster and station manager of local station Gold FM 94.7.
Jumalon was conducting a live broadcast inside his radio station located in his residence on Calamba, Misamis Occidental when the suspect shot him in the face and grabbed his necklace before fleeing.
The suspect pretended to make an announcement in the victim’s radio program.
Jumalon was declared dead upon his arrival at the Calamba District Hospital.
The Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the immediate activation of a special investigation task group (SITG) for the conduct of an in-depth probe into the victim’s brazen killing.
Undersecretary Paul Gutierrez, PTFoMS executive director, also alerted the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which is also part of the PTFoMS, to also start gathering pieces of evidence in support of the ongoing probe to hasten its resolution of the case.
“While the motive is yet to be determined, we consider this incident as ‘work-related’ for the moment,” he said.
“We also call on our colleagues in the media and the public not to resort to any speculation or make baseless accusations that can only distract our investigators on the true motive for the attack on Jamalon. Instead, we call on them to provide relevant and factual information that can hasten the resolution of this incident,” he added. (SunStar Philippines)