The vehicle of radio broadcaster Joey Llana, in Barangay (village) Peñafrancia, Albay. Llana was killed when he was attacked by still unidentified gunmen at around 5 a.m. Friday.
INQUIRER PHOTO/MICHAEL B. JAUCIAN/INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON
DARAGA, Albay — The brother and colleagues of Joey Llana, the radio broadcaster killed by gunmen on Friday, are doubtful of the “shabu” (crystal meth) found in his car where he died.
The police found a blue Avon sling bag with seven sachets of shabu and a lighter, said Jose Llana, Joey’s brother.
“It was planted. He doesn’t use sling bag,” Jose said.
Jose also said he believed that the drugs were only planted to distract investigators and the public.
“To divert the issue, they planted drugs,” Jose said.
Joey, 34, also said that a week ago, two men went to their house in Purok (Zone) 6 in Barangay (village) Peñafrancia in this town to ask if “this is Joey Llana’s house.” When Joey’s mother asked who they were, the men did not respond and left.
Llana, 43, was shot and killed early Friday in front of his house while on his way to work for his morning program “Metro Banat” at DWZR Hypersonic Broadcasting Network in Legazpi City.
“We are saddened by this recent event that we again find ourselves in the middle of all this,” said Darlan Barcelon, president of the Police Regional Office 5 Press Corps.
“In solidarity, the members of the press corps join [the public] in condemning the assassination of Llana. We also demand a thorough investigation from all investigating bodies including the Philippine National Police,” Barcelon said. He said the press corps would closely watch the case until it is resolved.
“He was a livewire, talkative, somehow, he had reckless statements, but on top of it, he was still a legitimate media practitioner,” Barcelon said.
Llana was known as a “hard-hitting” broadcaster, who tackled local and national officials implementing projects tainted with corruption and corrupt media practitioners and police.
Barcelon also said that he doubted that the shabu found in Llana’s car was his. “I never saw a visible clue that he was into drugs,” he said.
According to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, if Llana’s death would be proven related to his work, this would be the 12th case of media killing in the country and the third in Bicol.
A media colleague who refused to be named said Llana told him that he has been receiving death threats days before the crime.
“He did not tell me who the death threats were from, but he did not look scared. But I know deep down that he was also thinking about it,” he said.
“Yesterday, he playfully told me, ‘We will not see each other again.’ I did not interpret that as something serious,” his colleague recalled.