Murder charges were filed against all three suspects in the killing of Eduardo Dizon, an anchor of Brigada News FM in Kidapawan City.
The case was filed on Wednesday, 18 September 2019, just as the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) Member-Agencies and Media Observers were holding their regular meeting in Malacañang, according to Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco, PTFoMS executive director.
Mariam April Mastura-Linsangan, the acting city prosecutor of Kidapawan City filed the information for the crime of murder before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Kidapawan City docketed as Criminal Case No. 5281-2019.
Indicted were: Junell Jane Andagkit Poten alias Junell Gerozaga, Sotero Jacolbe, Jr. alias Jun Jacolbe, and Dante Encarnacion Tabusares alias Bong Encarnacion.
Tabusares and Jacolbe are both local broadcasters.
The crime of murder is defined and penalized under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code.
The three, acting in conspiracy with treachery and evident premeditation, planned to kill Dizon, who was shot several times and died last July 10.
According to Mastura-Linsangan, she has conducted the required preliminary investigation and personally examined Madonna Dizon, the wife of the victim and the principal complainant and her witnesses that there is reasonable ground to believe that the crime has been committed and that the accused are probably guilty and when convicted of murder after due process has a penalty of reclusion perpetua.
City Prosecutor Mastura-Linsangan also narrated that respondent Gerozaga, the alleged gunman, filed a Motion for Extension of Time to Submit Counter-Affidavit but no Counter-Affidavit was filed on the agreed time. Hence, the complaint was later on resolved.
“It’s a cliché that the wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow, but this Dizon murder case is an exception,” noted PCOO Sec. Martin Andanar, who is also the CoChair of the PTFoMS. “For the nth time, the Duterte government has proven that we will be relentless in pursuing the perpetrators behind media violence. ”
Usec. Egco echoed Sec. Andanar’s observation: “We at the Task Force are enforcing a direct order from the President, that is, to go after the evil-doers behind these criminal acts against media men without fear or favor – as there are no sacred cows in this administration.”
In a related development, respondent Hilario Cavan Lapi, Jr. who was admitted to the Witness Protection Program (WPP) was likewise granted with a WPP Certificate of Admission by the Department of Justice. Lapi was originally named resondent for acting as lookout during the commission of the crime.
The City Prosecutor has given “full faith and credit” on the said WPP Certification and therefore did not include Lapi being a state witness in the criminal complaint filed against the 3 suspects in the killing of Dizon.
