Press Release
September 6, 2013

PIMENTEL DEPLORES MEDIA KILLING; ASKS POLICE
TO SOLVE RADIO MAN'S MURDER

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, PDP Laban President, today deplored the senseless killing of another member of the media in Iligan city, describing the bold execution of a defenseless, hard-hitting radio commentator as a dreadful, additional statistics to the burgeoning roster of media victims.

Pimentel, chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, asked police authorities to conduct an extensive manhunt operation against two, motorcycle-riding suspects to unmask the brains against the brutal death of Fernando "Nanding" Solijon, an anchorman of the public affairs program "Sandiganan" of FM radio station Love Radio. He said that the silencing of Solijon was another bloody affront against press freedom in the country which has continually suffered from its shattered image as one of the worst countries in the world with a staggering record of media killing and abuses. Police investigation showed that Solijon was invited by a friend to attend a party in the nearby, coastal village of Buruun. On his way back to his car after the party, a riding in tandem showed up, and shot him in close range several times, sustaining gunshot wounds in the forehead, abdomen and shoulder.

He was declared dead on arrival at a hospital in Iligan city.

Pimentel said that it could not be discounted that high-profile personalities who are the subject of Solijon's acerbic commentaries in his popular radio program are among the possible suspects in the killing, the same fate that had befallen several broadcasters across the country in the past few years.

The Maguindanao Massacre before the election season three years ago is derided as the worst media killing in recent memory in the world where members of the covering media were indiscriminately mowed down by high-powered weapons by kins and followers of the Ampatuan clan in Maguindanao province.

Pimentel appealed to police authorities in Iligan city to exert extra effort to apprehend the triggermen and unmask the perpetrators of the crime, fearing that Solijon case may yet end up as another media statistics only because of police indifference and inefficiency.

He also called on residents of Iligan city and the fans of Solijon in his radio program to help police authorities in tracking down the suspects to diffuse an air of uncertainty and tension in the city rocked again by another case of barbaric, media killing.

News Latest News Feed