Slay of Digos radioman media killing case–cops

JOURNALISTS commemorate the anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre last year by burning effigies of the main accused in the killings—members of the Ampatuan clan. KIMBERLY DE LA CRUZ

DIGOS CITY—Police here confirmed that broadcaster Samuel Oliverio was killed on Friday because of his work as a media man.

Supt. Querubin Manalang, city police director, said this was confirmed after two suspects in the attack on the 57-year-old broadcaster were positively identified by witnesses.

Manalang, however, declined to identify the suspects, said to be guns-for-hire, pending their arrest.

“But we are now preparing murder charges against them,” he said.

While Manalang said it was certain that Oliverio’s killing was work-related, the police were still trying to figure out who ordered it.

“The progress of the investigation was a success because we managed to identify the suspects,” he said.

Senior Supt. Michael John Dubria, Davao del Sur police director, said one of the suspects was also linked to the 2006 killing of broadcaster Armando Pace.

Both Oliverio and Pace hosted programs on radio station dxDS (not dxDX as reported earlier), which is owned by the Davao City-based University of Mindanao Broadcast Network  of the Torres family.

Dubria said that once the suspects were prosecuted and jailed, police would consider the two cases solved.

Like Pace, known for stinging commentaries against prominent personalities here, Oliverio was also critical of many known individuals in the city.

During the 2013 elections, he was said to have earned the ire of some politicians because of his scathing remarks over the air against their records. He also tackled issues such as illegal gambling and illegal drugs, among others.

Oliverio had mellowed out the past months, according to Daniel Gloria Jr., his cohost in another radio program, after suffering from a mild stroke.

But Gloria admitted that Oliverio continued to be scathing in his commentaries “albeit with humor”  prior to his stroke.

Oliverio was driving home from the market around 7:30 a.m. on Friday when he was shot twice in the head and nape by two men riding  on a motorcycle.

His common-law wife, Rowena Baylosis, was not hit but was injured when the motorcycle crashed on the pavement.

Tri-Media Association of Davao del Sur said the police finding that Oliverio’s death was work-related had proven their theory that there was a plot by influential people in the city to “eliminate” those  they deem as hindrances to their criminal activity.

“But we will not be cowed by this latest attack. We may have lost three comrades but their deaths only made us stronger in our quest for good governance and the fight against the crooks,” said Marlan Malnegro, an officer of the provincial media group. Reports from Orlando Dinoy and Eldie Aguirre, Inquirer Mindanao