DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental (PNA) – The Philippine National Police (PNP) is hoping to crack open the case of Edmund Sestoso, a radio anchor of “Tug-anan Power 91” on radio station DYGB-FM here, who was shot in broad daylight Monday by two still-unidentified male assailants in Barangay Daro, Dumaguete City.
The 51-year old radioman succumbed to his wounds Tuesday in a hospital.
Sr. Supt. Edwin Portento disclosed on Wednesday they have already created a task force that will investigate Sestoso’s death, and that it will include elements from the PNP, the intelligence community, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), to name a few.
The announcement comes as Joel Egco, Executive Director of the Presidential Task Force on Violence against Media Workers, is scheduled to visit Dumaguete in relation to Sestoso’s death.
Portento urged the media to provide them information or at least to encourage potential witnesses to come out.
He said they have already received “feelers” from potential witnesses.
Portento revealed they are eyeing three possible motives regarding Sestoso’s death, namely, “personal, professional, and affiliation.”
Asked what he meant by “affiliation”, Portento pointed to Sestoso’s supposed connections with leftists.
Meanwhile, journalists here on Wednesday banded together to condemn the dastardly act and called on authorities to conduct a thorough and deeper investigation into the case.
News reporters, anchormen, print journalists, and other colleagues in the Dumaguete media united to sound off a common call for justice for the death of Sestoso via a simultaneous broadcast starting at 8 a.m. which coincided with the late Sestoso’s regular daily airtime.
Dumaguete media members and former media practitioners agree they will not allow the death of Sestoso to “silence them.”