A cash reward of P3.7 million is being offered for the arrest of those behind the killing of radio anchor Juan Jumalon in Calamba, Misamis Occidental.
The Mindanao Independent Press Council (MIPC), in a statement on Monday, also said: “The office of Governor Henry Oaminal Sr., on Nov. 10, 2023, announced a reward of P500,000 for anyone providing information on the suspects’ whereabouts.”
“Additionally, a substantial reward of P3 million is offered to any law enforcement official who successfully arrests any of the individuals responsible for this heinous act,” the group said.
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission has pledged P100,000, and an additional P100,000 was also pledged to the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS), the group added.
On November 5, Jumalon, also known as DJ Johnny Walker, was killed by an unidentified gunman while he was doing a live broadcast for his radio program on 94.7 Calamba Gold
FM at his residence in Calamba, Misamis Occidental.
Police said the gunman went to Jumalon’s residence pretending to have an important announcement aired on the said radio station but suddenly drew his firearm and shot the radio anchor.
Earlier, three witnesses identified a suspect in the killing of Jumalon.
The suspect, Misamis Occidental police director Col. Dwight Monato
said, was reportedly a gun-for-hire in the province.
“We already have the name and background of one of the three possible suspects. This is a good starting point in any investigation,” Monato said.
On Wednesday, the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Johnny Walker submitted the complaint for murder and theft against one of Jumalon’s three attackers and released a computer-generated sketch of
the suspect’s face.
The Presidential Task Force on Media Security handed over Speaker Martin Romualdez’s P250,000 worth of assistance to the family of the slain broadcaster.
“No matter what the motive is behind this killing, the Philippine
media lost another one of its members, and we don’t want this to keep on happening. We in Congress will take concrete steps to ensure that every member of the fourth estate is protected from these senseless killings. They must not live in fear just because of their chosen profession,” Romualdez said.
The 57-year-old Jumalon was laid to rest in Polanco, Zamboanga del Norte on Sunday.
PTFoMS executive director Paul Gutierrez visited the wake in Calamba town on Saturday. He also held separate meetings with agents from the National Bureau of Investigation and the regional office of the PNP’s Directorate for Investigation and Detection Management.
“More than the expression of sympathy and the granting of financial support, what we are after here is justice for the victim through the apprehension of the identified suspect and his confederates leading to the unmasking of the mastermind, if there is any,” Gutierrez said.
“This is the instruction of the President and I am glad to note that
our law enforcement bodies are exerting their efforts to give justice
to the Jumalons,” he added.