Suspect in death of Ilocos broadcaster charged

Bantay, Ilocos Sur , Philippines  – The suspect in the shooting of Ilocos Sur broadcaster Eugene Paet last week is now facing frustrated murder raps before the Ilocos Sur Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Vigan City.

Mario Paet alias “Mayong,” a resident of Barangay Bulag East, Bantay town is being linked by police investigators into the shooting after talking with Paet from his hospital bed where he is recuperating from a bullet wound in the left side of his body.

Task Force Paet is continuing to dig deeper into the probe to ascertain what really motivated the shooting even as personal grudge rather than anything that is work-related is being eyed as a closer motive in the ambush.

The victim, Paet, was going home on board his motorcycle after his evening program over dwRS radio in Vigan on Jan. 7 when he was fired upon by a gunman who was on another motorcycle.

Investigators are pursuing leads over the incident to determine the motive behind the shooting.

Paet is in critical condition at the Ilocos Sur Cooperative Hospital in Bantay town where he was brought after the incident.

After a week inside the intensive care unit where doctors laboriously worked on him, he was brought to a hospital room where police probers are hoping to get his statement to strengthen the case.

The attack on Paet ignited alarm on his colleagues who asked authorities to pursue the case without let-up, unmask the mastermind, and put the perpetrators behind bars.

It was learned that the investigators are looking into political, personal, and work-related angles that may have triggered the shooting.

Earlier, the victim’s son Eugene Jr., said that his father may have courted the ire of some people whom he had commented on his program.           – Artemio Dumlao, Teddy Molina