Cebu journalist slay suspect identified

Local police recently claimed they have traced the mastermind behind the killing of journalist George Benaojan in Talisay City, Cebu, 600 kilometers south of Manila.

In a statement released to the media last 07 December, provincial director Vicente Loot bared that the local investigators have pinpointed the alleged brain behind the 28-year-old Benaojan’s slay. Loot, however, refused to identify the suspect for fear of jeopardizing the manhunt.

Benaojan died three hours after being gunned down Thursday evening (01 December 2005) in front of his market stall in the said city by suspected gunman Jinky Jagdon, who was positively identified by several witnesses. The local police are currently hunting Jagdon.

Benaojan works as radio commentator for Cebu radio station dyDD. He also wrote columns for several newspapers in Cebu, and the nearby island province of Bohol.

Several local media sources though, said that Benaojan might have been killed in relation to his job as a bagman of a former local Bureau of Customs official and as a secondary agent of the National Bureau of Investigation, which may explain the variety of guns he owned.

There are also unconfirmed reports that Benaojan abused his radio program to extort favors from local officials. The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility is still determining the Benaojan’s background and the circumstances behind his death.

As this developed, the local Kapisanan ng Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) chapter condemned the killing of their colleague, and urged their members to apply for firearm permits, if they are under threat.

Other media organizations like the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), dismissed the idea of arming journalists saying it won’t solve the issue of violence against journalists. Loot agreed, but said he won’t discourage media members to apply for gun permits.

Benaojan is the seventh work-related casualty this year. Last November, Edgar Damalerio’ killer, Guillermo Wapile, was convicted to life imprisonment. The conviction was only the third (out of 56 cases) since 1986, but none of these were the real masterminds in the killings. ###

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