Land conflict eyed in murder of Koronadal radio station driver
m. Monday while he was about to park Bombo Radyo’s patrol vehicle in front of the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital in Koronadal City.
The victim, who sustained two gunshot wounds on his back and neck, was ferrying one of the station’s reporters to gather reports at the hospital when the incident happened.
Aside from his regular tasks as driver, Palma occasionally conducts live reports on traffic, weather and area situation for the station’s afternoon broadcast.
Police initially withheld further details of the land conflict angle but it invited for questioning on Monday two residents of Barangay New Pangasinan who allegedly had previous brushes with the victim.
Invited were a certain Bebot Cabrido and Hagibis Cocus, who allegedly harassed and issued threats on Palma last April 23 based on a report the latter filed at the Koronadal City police station.
Insp. Joseph Madrid, Koronadal City police station spokesperson, said Cabrido and Cocus, who both denied any hand in Palma’s killing, were only subjected to questioning and were later released.
“We have not yet named any suspect but we’re continually following up the possible angles and were presently gathering statements from witnesses and other evidences that could help us determine the identity of the suspects and the possible masterminds,” he said.
Lebanan said several witnesses have already come forward to help shed light on Palma’s murder, which was believed a handiwork of hired killers.
He said they’re treating Palma’s killing as a priority case based on a directive from Philippine National Police Director General Nicanor Bartolome.
Bartolome reportedly received orders from Malacañang to speed up the ongoing investigation and work on the immediate identification and arrest of Palma’s killers.
Meantime, the South Cotabato provincial board passed a resolution during its regular session on Monday strongly condemning the killing of Palma and urging the local police to double their efforts in resolving the case.
Vice Gov. Elmo Tolosa said they consider the incident as unjustifiable and a direct attack against the media sector.
“We condemn this in the strongest terms. This is not just an ordinary murder case but one that involves our media community,” he said. “The question whether this is work-related or driven by personal grudge is not relevant. We condemn this because the victim is a media worker and it happened while he was on duty,” said board member Jose Madanguit.
He said the incident should also be a concern of the provincial government as it happened at the vicinity of the provincial hospital.
Madanguit said they will be sending copies of the resolution to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and other law enforcement units.
“We’re urging the DILG and the PNP to look into our security measures, especially in our public places and facilities,” he said in a radio interview.
Palma was the second media worker to have been murdered in South Cotabato-Sarangani-General Santos City (Socsargen) area since January.
On January 5, Tatak News publisher-editor Christopher Guarin was gunned down by two alleged hired assassins while on his way home along with this wife and daughter in Barangay Lagao here.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 12 had filed murder charges against an alleged “gun-for-hire” identified as Marvin Palabrica in connection with Guarin’s killing. (Allen V. Estabillo / MindaNews)
