CEBU CITY—Police on Friday arrested a police officer and another man who were allegedly involved in the killing of a radio broadcaster in Dumaguete City a day earlier.
Malacañang said the swift arrest of the suspects in the attack on broadcaster Dindo Generoso demonstrated the “relentless determination” of President Duterte to uphold the welfare of journalists.
Police Col. Julian Entoma, Negros Oriental police chief, said the first suspect to fall was a certain Teddy Reyes, who was seen in a closed-circuit TV footage driving a car that followed the gunman’s getaway motorcycle.
Reyes then pointed to Police Cpl. Glenn Corsame, the motorcycle driver, who was arrested at his residence in Barangay Banilad, Dumaguete City, Entoma said.
He said Corsame identified the gunman as Police Cpl. Roger Rubio, a member of the police provincial mobile force.
Rubio, who is from Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, is still at large. Entoma said Rubio hasn’t returned home in the past three days.
Police recovered a .45-caliber pistol with eight rounds of ammunition from Corsame, who surrendered a mobile phone which he had used to communicate by text with Rubio regarding Generoso’s whereabouts hours before the ambush.
‘Relentless determination’
Generoso, 67, was driving his car on the way to work at radio station dyEM FM early on Thursday morning when he was shot several times and he died outright.
“The arrest of the suspects is just the beginning of our quest to bring justice for Generoso and his family,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, who is cochair of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS), said in a statement.
“This also shows the relentless determination of President Duterte and the PTFoMS, as well as the entire administration in addressing the threats to our media professionals and to solving all forms of violence against media, especially, killings,” Andanar added.
Employed by politician
According to the task force, Reyes and Corsame are employed by a powerful politician in the province. It did not identify the politician.
Police Brig. Gen. Val de Leon, Central Visayas regional police director, said their investigation was “almost complete” following the arrest of the two men.
“We will keep you posted on more developments because as of now, the case is not yet solved,” he said in a press statement.
“But rest assured, especially the family and relatives of the victim, your police will help you bring all the suspects involved in this dastardly act to justice. My strict order to our men on the ground is to leave no stone unturned and make it quick,” De Leon added.
He said they were considering all possible motives in the killing of Generoso, including his job as a broadcaster, politics and family land dispute.
Police Lt. Col. Wilfredo Alarcon, the acting Dumaguete police chief, told the Inquirer on Thursday that the attack on Generoso could be work-related because he had reportedly tackled “a particular issue which drew the ire of some persons in the city.”
Death threats
He said Generoso’s family reported that he had received death threats on the phone.
Generoso was the second radio broadcaster assassinated in Dumaguete City since last year.
In April 2018, Edmund Sestoso, a broadcaster at radio station dyGB-FM, was shot by a man who also escaped on a motorcycle. He died from his wounds a day after the attack. —WITH A REPORT FROM JULIE M. AURELIO