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Raps filed against Ilocos Norte exec, aide
By Cristina Arzadon, Jeffrey M. Tupas, Orlando Dinoy
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inquirer Mindanao, Inquirer Northern Luzon
First Posted 00:54:00 06/22/2010

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100622-276867/Vice-mayor-in-media-slay
MANILA, Philippines—Police on Monday filed murder charges against the newly elected vice mayor of Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, and his aide in connection with the killing of radio commentator Jovelito Agustin last week.
Supt. Bienvenido Rayco, head of Task Force Agustin, said Bacarra Vice Mayor-elect Pacifico Velasco, his aide Leonardo Banaag and two others were also facing attempted murder charges in connection with the strafing of Agustin’s house on May 7.
The two other suspects were identified as Ricky Acosta and Moymoy Baldemor.
The charges were separately filed with the Laoag City and Ilocos Norte prosecutors’ offices on Monday.
Agustin was one of the three journalists shot dead during a five-day period after the lifting of the election-related gun ban on June 9.
Nestor Bedolido was murdered in Digos City in Davao del Sur on June 19 and broadcaster Jesiderio “Jessie” Camangyan was killed in Manay, Davao Oriental, on June 14.
The killings raised to 103 the number of media workers murdered in the country since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed office in 2001.
Police are set to file criminal charges against the suspect in the killing of Camangyan.
A government interagency body that tracks media killings announced Monday it had sent a team to Digos City and Manay town to investigate the murder of Camangyan and Bedolido.
Justice Undersecretary Ian Norman Dato, who was recently appointed chair of Task Force 211, said the team sent to Mindanao would “conduct a thorough investigation and immediate identification of the assailants.”
Task Force 211 is known as the Presidential Task Force against Political, Extrajudicial and Media Killings.
President Macapagal-Arroyo created Task Force 211 in 2007 at the height of the spate of unresolved extrajudicial killings of political activists in the country.
Agustin, who worked for the dzJC-Aksyon Radio, was shot in Barangay Barit on the night of June 15 while he was on his way home to nearby Bacarra. He died in a hospital at about 1 a.m. on June 16.
Agustin’s nephew, Joseph, who shared a motorcycle ride with the broadcaster, survived the attack and has become an eyewitness to the murder.
Rayco said Velasco was implicated in the murder of Agustin because of his association with Banaag, the suspected gunman.
Velasco’s car
Police earlier identified Banaag as the man who shot and killed Agustin, based on the account of the victim’s nephew.
“The car used during the [May 7] strafing incident belongs to Velasco. Banaag and Velasco were seen together before, during and after the May [10] elections,” he said.
Investigators have reviewed previously taped radio programs of Agustin and discovered that Velasco had been at the receiving end of harsh commentaries for nearly two weeks due to the official’s graft case, Rayco said.
Velasco has been convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan. The decision, which has been affirmed by the Court of Appeals, is pending resolution at the Supreme Court.
Velasco is a former Bacarra mayor and provincial board member before he ran and won as vice mayor in the May 10 elections.
Agustin started airing critical commentaries against Velasco before the elections and continued attacking him in his program even after May 10, police said. “This may have motivated Velasco to retaliate against Agustin,” Rayco said.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer has been trying to reach Velasco since last week, but the official could not be reached as he is reportedly confined in a Quezon City hospital for an undisclosed illness.
Task Force Camangyan
In Mati City, Senior Supt. Jose Jeorge Corpuz, head of Task Force Camangyan, confirmed to the Inquirer that the police were already coordinating with the prosecutors’ office for the filing of a case against the alleged gunman.
The task force has witnesses, one of them the wife of Camangyan, Ruth, who helped identify the suspect, said Corpuz, deputy director for operations of the police in Southern Mindanao.
Ruth and the couple’s 6-year-old son were in the audience when a gunman shot the broadcaster on June 14 before midnight while hosting a singing contest in Barangay Makopa.
Camangyan of Sunrise FM was known for speaking out against illegal loggers on the East Coast of Davao Oriental.
Suspect monitored
Corpuz assured the family of Camangyan that the police were closely watching the suspect.
“He is still in the area,” Corpuz told the Inquirer by phone.
Camangyan will be buried on Thursday.
Some journalists in Mati were rejoicing over the news that charges would be filed against the suspected killer of Camangyan even as they continued to receive information that more journalists would be attacked.
Next target
Joanna Mabini, a colleague of Camangyan, said a ranking Church official had advised journalists to be careful because “someone will follow Camangyan in the few next days.”
“The next target, we were told, is a woman,” Mabini said. She believes that it could be her.

“For two days, a motorcycle-riding man has been going to our house, asking about me. A house help said the man wore a mask so she did not see his face. This is really getting scary,” she said.
No longer a journalist
Mabini used to host a program over Radyo Natin and Sunrise FM, where Camangyan used to broadcast his commentaries on various issues.
In Digos City, the family of Bedolido is demanding justice even as the police insist that he was not a practicing journalist.
Senior Supt. Ronald de la Rosa, police chief of Davao del Sur, said Bedolido was no longer a journalist when he was shot dead on Saturday night.
De la Rosa said Bedolido, who used to work for the weekly magazine Kastigador, was a “black propaganda writer” for a politician.

“If we count him as a journalist, then he should be active in writing for an independent media outlet,” the police official said. Kastigador is allegedly financed by a local politician.
In 2007, Bedolido wrote for the newsletter of the provincial government, De la Rosa said.
But Boying Torecampo, who also writes for Kastigador, said Bedolido was a consultant.
“He was an editorial consultant but he did not want his name in the staff box because he was planning to produce his own magazine,” Torecampo said.
Bedolido was gunned down while he was buying cigarettes at the corner of Rizal and Quezon Avenues in Digos City.
Bedolido’s son, Marxlen, believes the killing was politically motivated. “There is a politician involved that is why we are seeking justice,” said Marxlen, 22.
Gubernatorial candidate
Marxlen said his father wrote for Claude Bautista, who lost in the gubernatorial race in the May 10 elections.
He said minutes before the killing, his father got angry after receiving a call on his mobile phone. After the call, Bedolido went out to buy cigarettes in a nearby store.
A few minutes later, Marxlen heard gunshots and saw his father, bloodied and on the ground.
“We have recovered his cellular phone and we have some leads,” De la Rosa said.
Late Monday afternoon, De la Rosa announced that police had come up with a sketch of the suspect. He, however, refused to show a copy of the sketch.
In a statement, the National Press Club (NPC) called on incoming President Benigno Aquino III to form a super body to ensure that the enemies of the press are prosecuted while cutting off their influence in the courts, the prosecutors offices, the police and the military. With a report from Dona Pazzibugan



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