Hired guns tagged in slay attempt on radioman
Cuesta, 35, who was shot four times, remains in the intensive care unit of
Senior Superintendent Robert Po, General Santos City police chief, told The STAR that a gun-for-hire syndicate operating in Central Mindanao is behind the slay attempt on Cuesta.
“Very professional ang pagtira sa kanya, and we suspect that it was the handiwork of hired killers,” he said.
At Malacañang, Press Secretary Jesus Dureza blamed “bad elements” for the shooting of Cuesta, program director of Radio Mindanao Network in General Santos City.
Malacañang has requested regular updates from police on their investigation.
Cuesta’s wife Gloria, an employee of the city government of Digos in Davao del Sur, said he had received several death threats before he was shot last Monday.
She suspected the death threats were related to her husband’s job as a hard-hitting radio commentator.
Cuesta was the third radio journalist shot in General Santos City since 2004, according to Jeffrey Jubelag, Central Mindanao police press corps president.
Chief Superintendent Felizardo Serapio Jr., police director of the Socsksargen (
“I ordered the creation of the task force to focus on the investigation of the case and to identify the suspects and the mastermind,” he told The STAR.
“The shooting of a radio journalist is a direct attack on press freedom. The suspects should be brought to jail, including the mastermind if there be any,” he added.
Comprising the task force are the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Regional Investigation and Detection Management Division, Regional Intelligence Division, and Regional Public Information Office.
Media watchdogs called on the government yesterday to put an end to the “culture of impunity” against members of the press.
“It is only August and already, four journalists fell prey,” said Jose Torres, editor of GMANews.tv online and president of the National Union of Journalists of the
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