Cops reviewing slain Iriga radioman's past broadcast

Investigators are now going over the recorded radio broadcasts of a commentator in Iriga, Camarines Sur who was shot dead on Monday. Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr., Philippine National Police spokesman, said a review of the recordings could help authorities identify the killer of 49-year-old Romeo Olea and find out if the attack was work-related. "Coordination was made with the immediate family of the victim and Mrs. Raquel Olea turned over to the PNP-Iriga the cassette [recordings] of her husband, where review of his earlier programs could be made," Cruz said. The police official said they already have the victim's mobile phone, which would undergo a "scientific examination." The empty shells recovered from the crime scene, meanwhile, are still being subjected to a ballistics exam by the Crime Laboratory of the provincial police. Olea's remains are also set to be autopsied by experts from the National Bureau of Investigation office in Legazpi City. Cruz said local policemen have already been deployed to secure the victim's family in their residence at Barangay San Miguel. Malacañang has already deplored the incident, describing it as a "senseless killing." “Mr. Olea was a crusading journalist who exposed irregularities, for which he had been receiving threats to his life," said Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. Olea was gunned down by unidentified armed men at around shortly before 6 a.m. Monday in front of the Holy Child Learning Center in San Jose, Iriga City. New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said the killing of Olea should not end up being another unprosecuted case in the Philippines, even as it called for a thorough investigation into the killing. The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines said Olea was the fourth journalist murdered this year and the fifth since President Benigno Aquino III assumed office. Olea was the 145th journalist murdered since democracy was restored in the country in 1986. — Mark D. Merueñas/KBK, GMA News