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Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Iligan cops identify 3rd suspect in Pantoja case
By Danilo V. Adorador III
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- The third suspect in the shooting of radioman Jose "Joe" Pantoja has already been identified, according to Iligan police.
The Task Force Pantoja, assigned to pursue Pantoja’s assailants, said the three suspects had been sending "surrender feelers" to clear their names on the radioman’s attempted killing last week.
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Task Force spokesman Phillip Jaudian said Pantoja himself provided vital information, which helped police identify the third suspect, known only as Ding Galves, 43, a resident of Barangay Villaverde in Iligan City.
Jaudian said police tagged Galves as a known gun-for-hire character in the city. It was not immediately known though whether the suspect has pending criminal cases.
Galves and the two other suspects -- Romeo Ragasajo and Romeo Vequiso -- are still at large. Charges of attempted murder have been filed against the three.
“Pantoja, who is still recuperating at the Iligan Sanitarium and Hospital after a surgery that removed two bullets from his body, had confirmed that the three were indeed his assailants,” Jaudian said.
"Although they were wearing bonnets, Joe (Pantoja) was able to recognize them. He recognized them from their eyes," the police official told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.
Cagayan de Oro Press Club President Jerry Orcullo meanwhile said Task Force Pantoja will "relentlessly pursue its efforts" to uncover the persons behind the killing, including the mastermind."
Orcullo said the attempt on Pantoja's life was an attack on press freedom.
The Cagayan de Oro Council passed a resolution Monday describing the incident a "dastardly act against press freedom." It calls for law enforcement agencies to "exhaust all means to immediately bring to the bar of justice the perpetrators."
Mindanaoan Senator Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. also condemned the murder attempt, saying the incident was "another gruesome statistics of the perils of journalism under this administration."
Pantoja, a commentator on blocktime for the Love Radio station of the Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC), was attacked near the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) campus.
Doctors said Pantoja sustained five bullet wounds that tore certain sections of his intestines and liver.
City Police Director Virgilio T. Ranes and area precinct commander Venancio Reuyan told Cagayan de Oro, hours after the incident, that the attempt on Pantoja's life may have been linked to politics and had something to do with his profession. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (October 16, 2007 issue)
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