Justice remains elusive for slain journalist

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Justice remains elusive for a newspaper reporter who was gunned down a year ago in President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat.

Relatives of Leodoro Diaz, reporter of a local daily tabloid Sapol News Bulletin, continue to cry justice a year after the newsman was shot dead by two suspects while he was driving his motorcycle in Barangay Kanawi, President Quirino town, Sultan Kudarat.

Police have filed murder charges against Toto Kalamag, reportedly a bodyguard of President Quirino Mayor Azel Mangudadatu, after witnesses tagged him as the gunman.

Last February, the regional trial court in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat issued an arrest warrant against the suspect who remains at-large.

The Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTOMS) has asked the police regional chief of Region 12 to effect the arrest of the suspect who was believed to be hiding in Maguindanao and North Cotabato.

Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco, PTOMS executive director, has asked Chief Supt. Marcelo Morales, Police Regional Office-12 director, to effect the immediate arrest of the suspect amid reports that the victim’s family had allegedly received threats supposedly coming from the suspect’s camp.

Rose Muneza, the victim’s wife, said their family has been under threat following the issuance of the arrest warrant against the suspect.

Unidentified suspects opened fire at the house of Carlos Diaz, the victim’s brother, in Barangay Katiku, President Quirino last month.

Muneza said Mangudadatu has threatened them for implicating Kalamag in the murder of her husband, saying that the suspect was innocent.

Muneza asked Mangudadatu to surrender Kalamag to police authorities to face the charges in court and prove his innocence.

“We asked the police to arrest the suspect and placed under the jurisdiction of the court,” Muneza said.