Department of Justice task force joins probe on slay of radioman

MANILA, Philippines - The special task force of the Department of Justice (DOJ) handling cases of media killings has joined the investigation into the killing of a hard-hitting radio commentator in Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental the other day.

The Task Force Against Political Violence and Extra-Judicial Killings, dubbed as TF211, said it has coordinated with the police task force going after those behind the gun-slay of Ernie Rollin (not Rullen as earlier reported), a blocktimer of radio station dxSY.

Justice Undersecretary on-leave Ricardo Blancaflor, chairman of TF211, said they would help determine the motive behind the killing and arrest the gunman.

Sources at Task Force Usig said they have three witnesses and were looking at politics, land dispute and marital concerns as among the possible motives.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said the way Rollin died “indicates it was a contract killing ordered by Rollin’s enemies and carried out by professional hit men.”

Rollin was gunned down while on his way to his radio program “Bantay Lungsod” before dawn on Monday. His wife Laya survived the attack.

The two were on board a motorcycle when the gunman, also on a motorcycle, shot Rollin as he pulled into a gas station.

Rollin was the second journalist slain this year. In January, Badroddin Abbas, a part-time radio commentator and Muslim peace activist, was killed in an ambush in Cotabato City. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe and AP