DOJ sends team to probe killing of radioman in Gingoog

MANILA , Philippines – A Department of Justice (DOJ) official on Tuesday ordered a probe on the killing of Gingoog City radioman Arecio Padrigao last Monday. In a telephone interview with GMA News, Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor said they have deployed a Task Force 211 team in Gingoog City , Misamis Oriental province to look into Padrigao’s murder. Blancaflor heads Task Force 211, DOJ’s fact-finding body on journalist killings. “Mayroon na tayong team (We have a team) on its way to Gingoog [City] and they are coordinating with the National Bureau of Investigation from Cagayan de Oro," Blancaflor said. The team is composed of a forensic expert, an investigator and a prosecutor. Radio blocktimer Arecio Padrigao, Sr., 52, was shot dead by one of the two motorcycle-riding, helmet-wearing gunmen in front of the Bukidnon State University campus in Gingoog City at around 7:25 a.m. on Monday. Police and his colleagues said he had been threatened for criticizing illegal logging on his morning program "Sayre ang Katilingban" (Know Society) on Gingoog City-based FM Radyo Natin dxRS. He also wrote for the Mindanao Monitor Today, a regional daily. Blancaflor said the Task Force 211 unit “will do an immediate profile" and “will interview the members of the family, his co-workers, and other sources" to follow the trail of those behind his murder. The team will also try to pressure other government agencies to arrest the suspects. At least two radio broadcasters were gunned down in separate incidents in the Philippines last August. Dennis Cuesta was fatally wounded after a shooting attack near a shopping mall in General Santos City, for his hard-hitting reports on local corruption, drugs, and illegal gambling. Martin Roxas died in a hospital in central Capiz from a bullet wound to the spine when he was shot while leaving his office. Two print journalists this year were also gunned down this year. In April, Benefredo Acabal succumbed to five gunshot wounds before reaching a hospital in Manila while gunmen murdered Bert Sison and wounded his daughter in their car in Sariaya town, southeast of Manila , in June. - Sophia Dedace, Carlo Lorenzo, GMANews.TV