Justice appealed for slain mediaman
By Ma. Cecilia Rodriguez
Mindanao Bureau
First Posted 01:23:00 11/20/2008
Filed Under: Regional authorities, Crime and Law and Justice, Media
GINGOOG CITY – “Bakod na, Papa, kay daghan na kay dugo (Wake up, Papa, you’ve spilled so much blood),” said Aristeo Padrigao’s 7-year-old daughter, as she hugged her father’s body.
Padrigao, a radio commentator and blocktimer in Radyo Natin, was dropping off his daughter in front of the Bukidnon State University here when men wearing masks and crash helmets shot and killed him on Tuesday.
Supt. Leonyroy Ga, city police chief, said Padrigao had been receiving death threats since October. “We confirmed that he received text messages telling him that he would be killed. But he never went to us for protection or had it recorded on the blotter,” he said.
In the radio program he hosted, Padrigao constantly attacked local officials for alleged corruption and involvement in illegal logging.
Witnesses have refused to come forward and no suspects have been arrested. The Department of Justice gave police investigators 48 hours to solve the case.
“The assailants left no trace except for one, a motorcycle plate number which we have traced to be registered in Davao City,” said Ga. The license plate bearing LI1655 was left at the crime scene and traced to a certain Julius Sambrano.
Padrigao’s family is calling for justice. “We just want to know who the perpetrators are. We hope his death will not be for nothing,” said his wife and children, who are under police watch for their safety.
Padrigao’s wife said she was sure that his vocal criticisms cost him his life. “I told him to be careful about what he says over the radio because I knew he had been receiving threats. He said he will not attack anyone if he doesn’t have evidence,”” she said in Cebuano.
Before his death, Padrigao had been critical of city administrator Tita Garrido, Mayor Ruthie Guingona and Vice Mayor Marlon Kho for alleged irregularities. The mayor denied any involvement in the incident when interviewed by the Inquirer.
“What we’re trying to analyze is Padrigao received a text message saying that he will be the next one to be killed as ordered by the vice mayor. And I heard that eyewitnesses said the wife was hysterical at the hospital and was shouting that it was the vice mayor who killed her husband. I don’t know if these are true,” Guingona said.
She defended Garrido, saying, “she is a soft-spoken person.”
“It’s true that she retired already but I rehired her. Padrigao was attacking her because he said she had illegally occupied her post. But I was the one who appointed her based on trust and confidence,” Guingona said.
Kho has denied involvement, and Garrido was not immediately available for comment.
Ga said the National Bureau of Investigation and Task Force Usig of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group had been helping in the case but had so far come up with no clear lead.
|
