Cops face blank wall in radioman’s slay

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Justice remains elusive for slain broadcaster Rex Cornelio Pepino of Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental as police said they are still facing a blank wall in the case.

Pepino was buried in Sibulan, Negros Oriental on Saturday. The 48-year-old radio reporter, was shot dead evening of May 5 at Villa Amada, North Road in Barangay Daro, Dumaguete City.

Police reports indicated that Pepino was onboard a motorcycle with his wife when he was shot by unidentified suspects who were also riding another motorcycle.

He was pronounced dead at the Silliman University Medical Center.

During the funeral, Pepino’s family and friends displayed streamers calling for justice and for the suspects to surrender.

The Special Investigation Task Group Cornelio said it is facing a blank wall on the identities of the suspects and the motive for the killing, although his colleagues and family said it was job-related.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary and PTFoMS (Presidential Task Force on Media Security) Co-Chair Martin Andanar said that he was saddened by the latest attack against another member of the media, especially at a time when the role of journalists as frontliners during the COVID-19 pandemic is deemed “heroic.”

Stressing that President Rodrigo Duterte has absolutely zero-tolerance in this kind of barbarism, Andanar said that the government will extend all the necessary assistance and support to serve justice to the Pepino family.

He added that the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office and the Dumaguete City Police Office were ordered to leave no stone unturned in going after the perpetrators and mastermind in the killing.

Dumaguete Bishop Julito Cortez earlier called on authorities to exert all efforts to stop criminality and solve crimes with swiftly following the recent assassination of Pepino.

A joint statement was also issued by the different environmentalist groups in Negros Oriental, calling for justice for the slain radio broadcaster.

Pepino was the third radio broadcaster to have been killed in Negros Oriental since 2018.