ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/01 September) — Local media workers will hold an indignation rally against the murder of DXLS commentator Fernando “Nanding” Solijon on Monday, Sept. 2 at 2 p.m.
DXLS station manager Rudy Catubay said they will demand justice for Solijon and his family.
Solijon was gunned down by two motorcycle-riding assailants August 29 at 10:30 p.m. in Purok 1 of barangay Buruun. No suspects have been named so far.
The slain broadcaster’s colleagues in DXLS expressed on air their grief over his death.
Bobby Barrega, a radio technician voiced his sentiment metaphorically, saying that although Solijon’s life ended violently it will sprout back like a tree whose branches are cut.
Nard Loyola, also a radio announcer, encouraged everyone to be a Good Samaritan by supporting “a peso for Nanding” campaign the proceeds of which will be given to Solijon’s wife, Mely, and his son.
As part of their way of remembering him, Solijon’s favorite song, All My Life by America, was repeatedly played on air.
Solijon hosted the radio program Sandiganan, which aired not only his commentaries but also opinions from callers and field reports.
Cris Dapo, DXLS technician said Solijon even allowed those who threatened to kill him to be heard on air via phone patch.
Listeners and local officials have extended condolences to his family and his colleagues.
Some of those who did not share his views believed Solijon just echoed the thoughts of his sponsors.
City Waterfalls-Iligan City, a Facebook group, has also become a venue for opinions related to his death.
“Even though we know that killing is never an option to straighten out something that is not right Nanding SoliJon’s death should serve as a lesson for radio commentator to act professionally – their words can damage someone’s credibility and even though what they are talking aren’t true, they would sound true to others who don’t have the right education to think and research. Commentators should not receive money from ‘politicians’ to deliver ‘false reports’,” Kim Romarez said.
“Solijon has defamed few people I love on air. I hate that guy but I do not have a death wish on him. What should have been done was to pray for him. Thou shalt not kill. If you kill your enemies, what makes you different from the rest?” Aileen Anne Gerona Acosta, a physician replied to other micro-bloggers in Facebook.
“In a civilized society governed by the rule of Law, there is no space for the idea that just because a person’s expression is so displeasing and so contrary to ours, he deserves to be killed.
Condoning such idea will necessarily destroy the very foundation of the free society and will bring us back to the Stone Age where it’s not the law that rules but only the powerful. I condemn in no uncertain terms the killing of Fernando Nanding Solijon!
” said lawyer Ver Quimco, an anchorman of Balaod ug Kamatuoran.
In a meeting with radio reporters on August 30, city councilor Providencio “Bong” Abragan Jr., chair of the committee on police, public order and safety, said he considers Solijon’s death as politically motivated and work-related.
“What is important for me is that the suspect should be identified and arrested,” he said.
Abragan noted that Solijon had been consistent in coming out with hard-hitting commentaries in Sandiganan.
The councilor said he is willing to provide his services as a lawyer to prosecute the suspect.
Senior Supt. Cristito Ray Gonzalo, city police director and head of Task Force Nanding Solijon, said that Solijon was the 35th victim of summary killings in the city this year.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said that if Solijon’s murder would be proven to be work-related, he would be the 159th media practitioner murdered in the country since 1986 and the 19th under the Aquino III administration. (Violeta M. Gloria/MindaNews)