Murder raps filed vs. suspects in CamSur radioman’s killing

Murder charges were filed on Friday against two suspects in the killing of a broadcaster in Camarines Sur last week, police said. Suspects Eric Vargas and Gina Bagacina were charged on Friday before the Provincial Prosecutor of Camarines Sur for their alleged involvement in the killing of freelance broadcaster Miguel Belen last week, a news release from the Philippine National Police (PNP) said. Belen died at a hospital last Saturday, three weeks after he sustained seven gunshot wounds in the body in an ambush on July 9 while on his way home in Barangay San Jose Pagaraon in Nabua town. (See: Ambushed broadcaster dies in Bicol hospital) According to PNP Region V Director Chief Superintendent Cecilio Calleja Jr., the victim himself identified Bagacina as the gun-wielder and Vargas as the driver of the suspects’ getaway vehicle, in a testimony he made before he died. Vargas is currently being held at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Provincial Office in Camarines Sur, Calleja said. Bagacina, who was also identified by her alias “Liezel" in other reports, remains at large and is currently the subject of Bicol-wide manhunt operations, he added. Investigators have established that Belen was a former publicist for a local politician but later switched sides and worked for the campaign of another politician who won a seat in the House of Representatives. Police are still investigating whether his political affiliations were a factor in the attack, Calleja said. Belen’s shooting is reportedly the second attack on media people under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III. On July 3, Radyo Natin Tabuk reporter-commentator Jose Daguio, 75, was killed in his home in Tabuk town, Kalinga province. He was also a part-time columnist for a community newspaper. Daguio was the first media fatality under the Aquino administration.—Andreo C. Calonzo/JV, GMANews.TV