PNP releases sketch of suspect in Misamis Occ broadcaster’s murder

The Philippine National Police releases on Monday, November 6, 2023, a computerized facial composite sketch of one of the suspects in the assassination of radio broadcaster Juan Jumalon in Misamis Occidental on Sunday morning. Photo courtesy of PNP PIO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) declassified on Monday a computerized facial sketch of the suspect in the brutal killing of radio broadcaster Juan Jumalon in Misamis Occidental on November 5.

No additional details were made available as of this writing. However, PNP spokesperson and public information office chief Col. Jean Fajardo said the man in the sketch is believed to have been a lookout near the gate of Jumalon’s home.

“Ito ang kasama ng gunman na naiwan sa may gate (This is a companion of the gunman who was left at the gate),” Fajardo told reporters in a Viber message.

Based on the police report, the 57-year-old radioman, also known as DJ Johnny Walker, was gunned down at 5:35 a.m. on Sunday by a still unknown assailant while on-air over Misamis Occidental’s Gold FM 94.7 in Calamba town.

CCTV footage from Jumalon’s home showed that two gun-toting men were able to enter the house through the garage. Jumalon’s radio station is also located within his residence.

Earlier, Calamba municipal police station officer-in-charge Captain Diore Libre Ragonio said they had identified three “persons of interest,” including those who entered the gate and a lookout.

In the 2023 Global Impunity Index by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Philippines ranked eighth, which the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) saw as a “slight improvement” but not something deserving of praise.

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