NPA owns gunslaying of ex-Legazpi City radioman

LEGAZPI CITY – The New People’s Army said it has ordered the Thursday killing of former broadcast journalist Jose Loreno because he had turned his back on the communist movement. Greg Bañares, spokesman for the NPA’s Bicol Regional Party committee, said in a statement that a “people’s court" found Loreno guilty of “treachery" for being a member of the Kilusang Kontra Komunismo. The killing was carried out by the NPA’s Santos Binamera command, Bañares said. Loreno, who worked about 15 years at DZRC radio in Legazpi City, died after sustaining two gunshot wounds to head. Police recovered two .45-cal. empty shells from the crime scene. Superintendent Jose Capinpin, Daraga police chief, three unidentified men with short firearms carried out the murder at about 7 p.m. Thursday in Maroroy village in Daraga. The 56-year-old Loreno, who used the call sign "Dayunyur Joe," was killed at his lechon (roasted pig) store he had just set up about a month ago. Capinpin quoted police information which showed that Loreno "received death threats from his former allies in the NPA since he surrendered to authorities [and joined the government's fold]." Jose Marcelo Bumanglag, program manager for DZRC's News Net Bulletin on Air, said in a phone interview that Loreno's attackers approached the lechon store using a motorcycle. One man alighted, pulled out his pistol, then proceeded to pump bullets into Loreno's body. He fled onboard the same motorcycle, where his companions waited, Bumanglag said. "According to police analysis, the NPA could be trying to get back at Loreno. He openly has been supporting the government for some years now," Bumanglag said in Filipino. Loreno left DZRC radio, which is run by the Filipinas Broadcasting Network, about a year ago. He then worked as a general assignments reporter for DWZR radio until four months ago when he decided to try his luck on the food business, Bumanglag said. "Before he died, Loreno would talk about the activities of the leftists," he added. Loreno's store was near the spillway at Maroroy Village in Daraga town, a first-class municipality with a population of 101,031 people in 20,082 households. On May 29 last year, former NPA commander Sotero Llamas was gunned down by three motorcycle-riding assassins in Tabaco City also in Albay province. Also known as Kumander Nognog or Ka Teroy, Llamas was the Bicol regional commander of the NPA prior to his arrest in May 1995. Llamas was also a peace negotiator for the National Democratic Front (NDF) and a founding member of the Bayan Muna party-list group. - GMANews.TV