5 charged for Palawan broadcaster's murder

At least five people, including a former provincial administrator and two suspected gunmen, have been charged for the killing of broadcaster Gerardo Ortega in Palawan province Monday. Radio dzBB's Palawan affiliate reported Wednesday that the provincial police charged gunman Marlon Ricamata during the inquest proceedings. Also charged were Dennis Aranas; Armando Noel Loria a.k.a. Jun-Jun Salbakuta a.k.a. Jun Loria; Jun-Jun Bomar; and lawyer Romeo Seratubias. The firearm was initially traced to Seratubias, formerly the province's provincial administrator. Seratubias later told investigators that he had sold the firearm long before the killing took place. Police said the firearm was sold last Jan. 15 to one Percival Lesias, who sold it to one Nonoy Regalado. The report said police are still looking for the mastermind behind Ortega's killing, and is conducting a follow-up operation in Quezon province. Earlier, police have started a manhunt for Aranas, who Ricamata said was his companion in the kill job. Ricamata Camata admitted being offered P150,000 for the job. Ortega was gunned down in Puerto Princesa City Monday morning, after his radio program for the day. Ortega, 47, was the main news anchor and commentator of Radyo Mo Nationwide's (RMN)'s Palawan station dwAR at the time of the killing. Ortega is the 142nd media worker to be killed since the end of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986. The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines said that if it is proven that the killing is work-related, he would be the second journalist to be murdered during President Benigno Aquino III's administration. The first was radio reporter Miguel Belen of Iriga, Camarines Sur, the NUJP said. In May 2006, Fernando Batul, also a hard-hitting broadcaster in Palawan and a friend of Ortega, was killed by unidentified gunmen. Stance against mining Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn, who suspects the killing may be due to Ortega's hard-hitting stance against mining, ordered police to protect Ortega's family as well as De Camata. Ricamata earlier said he and Aranas were approached in Quezon province by Bumar and Deloria, who told them they were to kill someone. Investigators said Ricamata and Aranas were to meet up north of the city after the shooting, then escape. But they said Ricamata may have been confused by the commotion — and the public address system of local firefighters calling on the public to help barricade the area — and fled in a different direction and was eventually caught. At the time, he already threw the pistol into a trash bin and had changed his shirt. — RSJ, GMANews.TV