NegOr police forms SITG to probe radio broadcaster’s slay

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – The Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (Norppo) created a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) on Wednesday to focus probing the killing of a radio reporter in Dumaguete City.

On May 4, Cornelio Pepino, 48, of Sibulan town, was killed in an ambush by unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen at Barangay Daro on his way home, along with his wife, who was unharmed in the attack.

Pepino, who used the screen name “Rex Cornelio,” was a regular news reporter and announcer of DYMD ENERGY 93.7 FM based in Dumaguete City.

Police Colonel Julian Entoma, Norppo director, said the attack happened when Pepino left the radio station after his regular late afternoon program “Pokpokin mo Baby.”

Entoma said that Pepino succumbed to five gunshot wounds. Police recovered from the scene five empty shells of .9mm-caliber ammunition.

The attack happened just two days after the commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day, and six months after Dindo Generoso, a blocktimer of dyEM 96.7 Bai Radio, was also killed in an ambush in Dumaguete City in November 2019.

Entoma, who leads the SITG, along with the Dumaguete City Police Station, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), and other units, said that they have yet to determine the motive behind the killing, though they are initially looking into work-related as one of the possible angles.

He said the victim received threats and was given security personnel before the 2016 elections, but he had it stopped because he was uncomfortable with having bodyguards.

“We are not yet sure if it’s work-related or personal because we don’t have evidence and persons of interest,” he said.

He also said they cannot see the faces of the assailant in a copy of a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage they obtained because they wore face masks.

In a statement posted on their official Facebook page, the management and staff of DYMD said they are saddened and angered by the senseless and brutal killing of one of their colleagues.

They are calling for justice for Pepino’s death.

The Dumaguete Press Club, Inc. mourned the death of one of their colleagues in the media industry, as they condemned the incident, which they considered as a dastardly, cowardly and treacherous piece of execution.

According to the club’s chairman emeritus and founding president Ely Dejaresco, Pepino is the fourth broadcaster killed in Dumaguete.

Of the four media killing cases, only one was solved while the rest are still ongoing and hampered by lack of witnesses, he added.

Dejaresco said that “Pepino was killed in line of duty, and could be politically motivated since politics was his favorite topic which might have hit the nerve of some political sectors, or, a reverse psychology could have been deployed.”

Presidental Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) Executive Director Undersecretary Joel Egco said they directed the Norppo and Dumaguete City Police Station to hunt down the suspects.

As in the past cases we handled, we will leave no stone unturned, he added.

Egco said that they are looking at all angles to determine the motive for the killing. He noted that DYMD is owned by a political clan in the province.

“This cowardly killing in the midst of a pandemic is unforgivable. We will get to the bottom of this and will stop at nothing in identifying and hunting down the people behind this despicable crime. It will be just a matter of time before these murderers will be brought to justice,” he stressed.

He said that the PTFoMS is already on top of the situation and is closely coordinating with Pepino’s family and friends and local police officials to learn more details about the incident.  His wife is presently under police protection and is cooperating with the investigation.