Negros broadcaster dies a day after shooting

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — Radio broadcaster Edmund Sestoso, who was shot by motorcycle-riding men in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental on Monday, has died.

Sestoso, 51, of dyGB FM died while being treated at the Siliman University Medical Center Foundation at around 3:25 p.m. yesterday.

Resident physician Paul Damiel said Sestoso died of multiple organ failure secondary to multiple gunshot wounds due to loss of blood and septic shock. 

Sestoso had just alighted from a tricycle near his boarding house in Barangay Daro at around 10:30 a.m. when motorcycle-riding assailants shot him several times.

The task force created to investigate the killing said it is coordinating with commercial establishments near the scene to check if their surveillance cameras recorded the incident. Witnesses were also encouraged to come out.

Mayor Felipe Remollo urged the police and National Bureau of Investigation to “go the extra mile” in its investigation of Sestoso’s death.

“I salute the dedication of Sestoso to his work. He attacked with evidence and documents,” Remollo said, adding that he hoped the perpetrators, including the mastermind, would be unmasked and jailed. 

Sestoso had received death threats related to his work, according to his wife Lourdes.

Sestoso, former chairman of the Negros chapter of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines, hosted a news and public affairs program titled Tug-anan sa Power 91.

He was the second broadcast journalist slain in this city. Roger Recaña of dyRM was killed also in Barangay Daro several years ago.

The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas and the Dumaguete Press, Radio and TV Club Inc. will have simultaneous broadcasts today to air their indignation and pay tribute to Sestoso. – Juancho Gallarde/The Freeman, Gilbert Bayoran