DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental — The body of the radio anchor whose killing last week sparked outrage here and other parts of Negros Oriental was laid to rest Wednesday afternoon.
Thousands of relatives, friends, fans, and supporters of the late Edmund Sestoso packed the St. Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral during the funeral mass before his body was brought to San Jose, a town north of this capital where he was buried.
Fr. Mart Salac, who celebrated the requiem mass, with Msgr. Merlin Logronio as a con-celebrant, called for justice for the death of Sestoso, noted in his homily in the Cebuano dialect that “nobody has the right to take a life.”
He also read a portion of the statement of the Diocese of Dumaguete condemning the death of Sestoso.
Governor Roel Degamo and his wife Mayor Janice Degamo of Pamplona town were present during the mass and could not help but shed tears during the final viewing of the deceased broadcaster.
Sestoso’s death, who is considered to be the first media killing in Dumaguete City, dubbed as the “City of Gentle People”, also caught the attention of President Rodrigo Duterte who ordered a full-blown investigation into the murder.
Duterte sent key Palace officials over to Dumaguete last week, led by Special Assistant to the President, Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, to visit the wake of Sestoso and meet with police and other investigating units.
Degamo, in an interview after the funeral mass, vowed to pursue the investigation into the death of Sestoso.
The governor said he would also provide support to all government agencies to seek justice for the death of a man he considered a friend, and who had worked for him for several years as a paid block-time announcer during his electoral campaign.
“Pangitaon gyud nako ang hustisya aron mulutaw gyud ang kamatuoran ug kinsa gyud ang nagpaluyo niining pagkuha sa kinabuhi sa atong higala nga si Edmund (We will truly seek justice so that the truth will come out on who is really behind the death of our friend, Edmund),” he said.
The governor also promised to help the family of Sestoso, who left behind two daughters with his wife, Lourdes.
Degamo disclosed he would look for a regular position at the provincial government for the Sestoso’s widow.
He also vowed to provide other forms of support, such as medicines, and to follow up on the pronouncement of Secretary Go that the national government would give educational/scholarship assistance for Sestoso’s daughters.
The governor, meanwhile, said he strongly believes that Sestoso’s death was related to his job and politics.
He shunned other previous police pronouncements of a personal motive or the late Sestoso’s “affiliation” with the communists group.
Sestoso was the anchor of the regular morning program “Tug-anan sa Power 91” of DYGB-FM, and would have marked his one year with the radio station on May 1, the day he died after he was shot in his boarding house the previous day. He was 51. (Mary Judaline Partlow/PNA)
