Task force formed to probe attack on Camarines Sur radio man

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – The regional police here yesterday formed a task force to investigate the attack on a radio reporter last Friday.

Bicol police regional director Chief Superintendent Cecilio Calleja said he has organized Task Force Belen to investigate and identify the gunmen who attacked Miguel Belen in Nabua, Camarines Sur.

Belen, a reporter of dwEB radio, is still in critical condition at the intensive care unit of the Doña Josefa Foundation Hospital in Iriga City with gunshot wounds in the abdomen and various parts of his body.

Calleja ordered a platoon of policemen to guard Belen at the hospital while the investigation is being completed.

“We have to ensure the victim’s survival so he can help identify his assailants,” Calleja said.

Calleja appointed Camarines Sur police director Superintendent Jonathan Ablan to head the investigation and determine the motive behind the shooting to identify the gunmen.

Regional police spokesman Superintendent Eliciar Bron said Task Force Belen was ordered to focus on two possible angles.

Belen, a former barangay chairman, was said to have openly campaigned for a local candidate during the May 10 elections.

Another possible angle being pursued by police investigators was that Belen is supporting the operations of small town lottery (STL) in the region, much to the resentment of illegal gambling operators.

Belen was attacked following the murder of Jose Daguio, a radio reporter and community newspaperman in Kalinga province on July 3.

This developed as police yesterday announced that the suspected gunman in the murder of Daguio had been arrested.

“The Philippine National Police is happy to announce that it has solved the killing of Jose Daguio,” PNP spokesman Agrimero Cruz said.

Cruz said the suspect, Edwin Guiawal, is now in police custody after he was identified by witnesses as the one who shot the 75-year-old Daguio in his house.

Cruz said Guaiwal worked for four brothers allegedly involved in cattle rustling, who are now being sought by the Kalinga provincial police.

“They will be caught shortly. They have been monitored just moving in the area,” Cruz said.

Cruz suggested Daguio could have been killed for exposing the alleged cattle rustling activities of his attackers.

Media groups said Daguio was a long-time commentator for a local radio station and a columnist of a provincial daily until he retired in the 1980s.

Daguio had continued to be outspoken about alleged irregularities in Kalinga, and Cruz said the victim recently identified those behind cattle rustling activities in the province.

Daguio was the 140th journalist killed since media freedom was restored after the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos was toppled in 1986.

Daguio was also the first journalist murdered since President Aquino took office on June 30.

On Friday, Belen was attacked and seriously wounded in an ambush that police said might have been politically motivated.

Barely a week after Mr. Aquino assumed office, two militant leaders were also murdered.

On July 5, Fernando Baldomero, an area coordinator of the militant Bayan Muna, was shot in the head as he was taking his children to school in Panay.

Pascual Guevarra, 78, head of the local Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association (Arba) and Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid na Nagkakaisa 3100 (Almana 3100), was shot by a lone gunman in his house in Laur, Nueva Ecija last Friday.

Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano blamed the military for the killing of Guevarra, saying his death is “obviously related to their struggle to own” the more than 3,100 hectares of lands at the Fort Magsaysay military reservation in Nueva Ecija.

“Mr. Aquino should immediately act on Ka Pascual’s killing and stop the military from evicting farmers inside the Fort Magsaysay military reservation. It was during his mother’s term (the late former President Corazon Aquino) when the so-called transfer of the lands to farmers was initiated,” Mariano said.

Guevarra reportedly led numerous dialogues with the military on the alleged harassment of farmers by soldiers in the Fort Magsaysay military reservation. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Charlie Lagasca, Paolo Romero