3 charged with murder of Quezon journalist

MANILA, Philippines – The slaying last June 30 of Quezon journalist Roberto Sison has been solved with the filing of murder charges against three suspects, according to Task Force Usig, the police group investigating the killings of political activists and journalists. The task force has submitted a report on the case to Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, according to a statement issued on Monday. According to the report, the suspects are Mario, Michael, and Menandro Biscocho. They were arrested by operatives of the Quezon Provincial Office after ballistics tests showed that the the Llama .45-caliber pistol recovered from their house was the same gun that fired the slugs recovered from the crime scene. Sison, a correspondent for the weekly Regional Bulletin in Quezon and a broadcaster at the Lucena-based dzAT-AM, was with his daughters Almira and Liwayway when gunmen on a motorcycle overtook his car and opened fire in Lutucan Bata village in Sariaya, Quezon. Liwayway was hit in the right arm as she ran out of the car, police reports said. Almira was not hurt because her father, who was hit nine times, shielded her. Charges were filed against the suspects at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Lucena City last July, according to Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Brian Raymund Yamsuan. Charges of frustrated murder and attempted murder charges were also against the suspects, through the police regional office in the Calabarzon Region, Yamsuan added. PNP Chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. and Police Director Jefferson Soriano, the task force commander and head of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, have lauded the investigators for the speedy resolution of the case,” Yamsuan said. As of mid-June this year, Task Force Usig has already filed a total of 87 cases against suspects in 142 verified incidents of unexplained killings, of which 49 are considered cold cases. Of the 64 cases filed involving killings of political activists, 41 were filed in court, in which one was settled amicably. A total of 15 cases are on trial, while 17 were archived and 8 were dismissed, Yamsuan said. The report also noted that 23 cases are pending at the prosecutor’s office, where nine are undergoing preliminary investigation, and 14 were provisionally dismissed. In cases of media-related killings, 23 cases were already filed, of which 18 are on trial and two were resolved with the suspects’ conviction and three were dismissed. Of the total number of 142 cases of unexplained killings verified by the task force, 114 involved killings of political activists and 28 cover work-related killings of journalists. The task force has already listed a total of 259 suspects in these 142 verified incidents, where 27 have already been arrested, 14 have surrendered and five convicted by the trial courts. A total of 28 incidents of killings of political activists involved members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), while13 involved military and paramilitary elements as suspects – five of these cases involved civilians who allegedly are linked to the military and one is still under investigation. - GMANews.TV