Suspect in radioman’s slay held

CEBU CITY—A man who was arrested on a drug buy-bust operation on Friday in Tagbilaran City has been positively identified by a witness in a lineup of suspects as the killer of Bohol radioman Maurito Lim, police said.

Jovani Orenia, 32, of Barangay (village) San Carlos, Danao, Bohol province, and believed to be a gun-for-hire, will be charged with murder, illegal possession of firearms and trafficking of illegal drugs, according to Senior Insp. Jojit Mananquil, team leader of the Special Operations Group of Bohol’s Provincial Intelligence Branch.

Lim, 71, who hosted a weekly program, “Chairman Mau on Board,” on dyRD radio station, was shot by a lone man riding a motorcycle after the victim parked his vehicle in front of the station on B. Inting Street on Feb. 14. He died at the hospital two hours later.

Mananquil said a security guard in one of the nearby establishments, who saw the killer wearing a baseball cap, identified Orenia in a lineup of five prisoners at the Tagbilaran police station on Sunday.

Orenia was arrested by Mananquil’s team at past 6 p.m. on Friday along F. Rocha Street in Tagbilaran, after a police decoy bought P500 worth of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) from him.

Ten packs of shabu, a .45 cal. pistol, two magazines and 11 rounds of bullets were also found in his possession.

Police investigators are waiting for results of the ballistic tests on the gun.

Mananquil said Orenia could have been hired by someone who was mad at the broadcaster. He, however, did not rule out land dispute as a motive since Lim was selling lots in the past.

Drug charges were already filed against Orenia at the prosecutor’s office on Monday.