Dagupan mayor under probe for slay try on radioman

MANILA, Philippines - Mayor Belen Fernandez of Dagupan City, Pangasinan is under investigation over the foiled ambush of radio broadcaster Orly Navarro, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said yesterday.

De Lima said that since Fernandez was among those whom Navarro tagged in his affidavit submitted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) last week, the mayor would be included in a probe by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that she ordered last Friday.

“All those mentioned by the victim are included in the investigation,” she said in a text message to The STAR.

Aside from Fernandez, Navarro tagged Fernandez’s staff Marlon Quebral, Dagupan police chief Superintendent Christopher Abrahano, former Pangasinan police director Marlon Chan and former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group head Freddie Laoyan.

De Lima ordered NBI director Virgilio Mendez to immediately identify and charge the perpetrators and masterminds in the attack.

She gave the bureau 15 days to submit its report and required it to make periodic progress reports until the case is resolved. 

She said the order is in line with DOJ’s commitment to eradicate media killings and other threats to journalists.

Navarro, along with lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, went to DOJ last Thursday to ask the NBI to help solve the case.

In his affidavit, Navarro, station manager and anchor of dwIZ, alleged that Fernandez and several provincial police officials could be behind the attempt to kill him last Aug. 26.

The city police had arrested a certain Rolando Lim, but Navarro said he could be a fall guy.

The radioman said he continued to receive death threats through text messages while he was recovering in a hospital. He said the sender of the text messages claimed they were people of Fernandez.

Navarro believes the local executive has an ax to grind against him, as he had been criticizing her in his radio program.

The Publishers Association of the Philippines and the Federation of Provincial Press Clubs of the Philippines condemned the attack.

The owner of dwIZ has offered a P500,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the suspects.