SLAIN. The bullet-riddled body of radio blocktimer Dindo Generoso is being pulled out of his car after he was gunned down in Barangay Piapi, Dumaguete City early Thursday morning (Nov. 7, 2019). Generoso was headed to the DYEM-FM Bai Radio 96.7 station for his early morning program when two motorcycle-riding suspects shot him. (Photo by Juancho Gallarde)
DUMAGUETE CITY – Government officials here strongly condemned the murder of a radio anchor early Thursday morning and sought justice as well as the early resolution of the crime.
Mercedarius Dindo Patrimonio Generoso, 67, a resident of Barangay Banilad in this city, was driving his car along Hibbard Avenue in Barangay Piapi headed towards the DYEM-FM Bai Radio 96.7 station for his early morning blocktime program when fatally shot by two motorcycle-riding suspects.
He died on the spot due to multiple gunshot wounds on his body, said Col. Julian Entoma, the provincial police director of Negros Oriental.
Governor Roel Degamo, in an interview, said he has ordered the police to conduct a thorough investigation into the death of Generoso, whom he had personally known over the years and even previously worked for him during an election campaign.
Degamo said he “condemns in the strongest possible sense the murder of Generoso”, which he described as inhumane and curtailment of press freedom.
He hopes everybody will cooperate with the investigation and urged witnesses to provide vital information to the authorities.
For his part, Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo said he is “saddened and outraged by this dastardly act of cowardice, which has no place in a decent society, especially in the peace-loving city of Dumaguete,” in a statement issued through the City Public Information Office.
The mayor, who is in Manila, said he will not rest until the perpetrators are brought to justice.
“I condole with Dindo’s wife, Nits, and children and the rest of his family. He was a true friend and a passionate media man and a genuine Dumagueteño,” Remollo said.
City Public Information Officer Dems Rey Demecillo said Generoso was the anchor of the “Konsensiya sa Probinsiya” radio program which the city government is sponsoring.
On the other hand, Vice Mayor Alan Gel Cordova, who was among the first to have arrived at the crime scene, believed that the attack on Generoso was senseless and uncalled for regardless of his views on certain issues and personalities.
Cordova said that if Generoso’s death remains unsolved, “the justice system will fail him, and God forbid, this can happen to anybody in the community”.
He is hoping that CCTV footages at the City Hall and establishments can help in the identification of Generoso’s killers. At least two CCTV cameras are strategically located at the intersection where the broadcaster was killed.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Negros Oriental, headed by Special Investigator Jess Cañete, called on the people to “unite once and for all and put a stop to these killings with impunity”.
“The act was dastardly, cowardly, hateful, and must not remain in the chambers of oblivion. Perpetrators must be brought to justice,” he said.
Entoma, said that, for now, there is no need to create a Special Investigation Task Group, comprising the police, National Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and other law enforcement units, to investigate Generoso’s death.
He said a regular investigation is now underway and asked the public to cooperate with the police as any little information might be of value.
Entoma said Generoso was shot with a .45-caliber firearm seven times, based on evidence recovered and information gathered.
The victim is the second media practitioner killed in Dumaguete in less than two years.
In May 2018, radio anchor Edmund Sestoso died after unidentified gunmen shot him in broad daylight shortly after he had finished his radio program and was on his way home.
To date, Sestoso’s case remains unsolved. (PNA)
