Probers eye 2 angles in broadcaster’s slay

By Victor Reyes and Jocelyn Montemayor

POLICE probers are looking into two possible angles behind the murder of radio broadcaster Juan Jumalon, alias Johnny Walker, last Sunday in Calamba, Misamis Occidental.

“One angle is it’s connected to his job, the other is personal (grudge),” PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. told reporters in an ambush interview at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

Acorda declined to elaborate, pending the investigation being conducted by the newly-formed Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Johnny Walker.

“We don’t want speculations because it may preempt the investigation. We are following up some leads but I am sorry, I am not at liberty to divulge these motives or theories we are looking into,” said Acorda.

Acorda said Northern Mindanao Regional Police Director Brig. Gen. Ricardo Layug has “committed he will do their best to solve the case.”

The Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) said investigators are looking at four possible motives in the killing of Jumalon, one of them a land ownership dispute.

PTFoMS Executive Director Undersecretary Paul Gutierrez, during the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon program, said authorities are looking at the incident as work-related, due to a personal issue, possibly in relation to the recent Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE), and a land ownership dispute.

“We are giving our investigators all the freedom to further dig into this issue, incident, and we will know all the angles,” he said.

Gutierrez said people who knew Jumalon, including members of the Mindanao Independent Press Council, felt the incident could not be work-related since they believe the broadcaster has not offended anyone based on his type of reporting or in reports that he made in the past.

He said the Department of Social Welfare and Development has extended initial assistance to the family of Jumalon.

Acorda said he has spoken with President Marcos Jr., who has ordered a thorough investigation of the incident. Marcos condemned the killing last Sunday and ordered law enforcement authorities to identify and arrest the perpetrators.

The Misamis Occidental provincial police office released yesterday a