ACQUITTED. Sotero Jacolbe Jr. (left) and his legal counsel, Attorney Vicente Andiano, leave the Regional Trial Court in Davao City on Friday (March 8, 2024). The court cleared Jacolbe of charges of murder over the slaying of radio broadcaster Eduardo Dizon in Kidapawan City in 2019. (Photo grabbed from Jacolbe Jr. FB Page)
KIDAPAWAN CITY – One of the suspects in the 2019 murder of a radio broadcaster here was acquitted by a court in Davao City on Friday.
Lawyer Vicente C. Andiano, one of the counsels of Sotero “Jun” Jacolbe Jr., told a news conference that the prosecution failed to substantiate Jacolbe’s involvement in the murder of Eduardo “Ed” Dizon on July 10, 2019.
“The prosecution failed to establish the guilt of the accused by proof beyond reasonable doubt, and the court acquits Jacolbe of the crime of murder,” Andiano said.
The court order was issued on March 8, 2024 by presiding Judge Emmanuel C. Carpio of the Davao City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 16.
Dizon, 58, broadcaster of Brigada News FM in Kidapawan, was driving his car heading for home when he was ambushed, killing him instantly.
Two other suspects, Dante Tabusares, the coordinator of the KAPA (Kabus Padatuon) Community Ministry International, and a certain Junell Jane Andagkit Poten, both remain at large.
“The truth has finally come out, I am vindicated,” Jacolbe said during a news conference here Friday afternoon. “But what puzzled me is who implicated me and why.”
A case of murder was filed before the RTC in Davao City against Jacolbe and two others on Sept 18, 2019.
About a month later, Jacolbe voluntarily surrendered to the Kidapawan City Police Office after the court issued a warrant for his arrest.
On Dec. 17, 2019, the court granted his request to post bail, and he was given temporary liberty. He then resumed his job as a radio broadcaster of Radyo Natin-FM in this city.
In May 2021, the Supreme Court granted the request of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines to transfer the case to Davao City. (PNA)
