THE killing of political propagandist Federico 'Deng' Gempesaw in Cagayan de Oro on Wednesday morning drew outbursts from top government and media officials as they jointly made a call for authorities to speed up the wheels of justice.
Calling it as a cowardly act, former governor and Misamis Oriental 2nd district Congressman-elect Yevgeny Vincente 'Bambi' Emano recently announced over a local radio that the provincial capitol is putting up a reward money of P500,000 for those who can provide information that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.
"You can't do this to an old man, except of those gravely affected by Deng's radio commentaries that tackled on any wrongdoings obviously by high profile personalities. Well, we can only speculate. Tinalawan nga binuhatan," rued Emano.
Emano, who is the Regional Vice Chairman of PaDayon Pilipino, acknowledged Gempesaw as an active supporter of the Regional political party.
Emano referred to him as "hilumon, apan walay kukahadlok nga mobutyag sa kamatuoran ug mobatikos sa hiwi nga binuhatan sa kahanginan hilabina kon ang agrabyado ang kinabag-an."
The 62-year-old Gempesaw, a partisan block timer over Radio Natin FM, had just stepped out from his driven taxicab in front of his house in Macanhan, Barangay Carmen when one of the riding-in-tandem suspects pumped a bullet to his nape.
Wounded, Gempesaw fought for dear life as he tried to wrestle with his attacker to the ground. But his injury allowed the gunman to overpower him and fatally shot him in the head before leaving with his companion on board a motorcycle.
"The media people and the residents of Cagayan de Oro should unite to put a stop to this kind of violence because it could happen to anyone," said broadcaster and Cagayan de Oro Press Club president Frank Mendez.
Admitting he's scared too, Mendez told fellow radio anchorman Jun Albino of Magnum Radio that the police must work hand-in-hand with the NBI agents to identify and arrest the suspects "who could kill more" possibly "one of us" in the media profession.
In an interview, the victim's widow Merlyn said she only knew of the death threats lately from Deng's friends, saying her husband doesn't talk much of his "other activities" within the family.
"But what happened is plain injustice. We're calling for the government authorities to act swiftly and bring us justice," said Merlyn who described Deng as a "responsible" and an ordinary "hardworking" man, who dabbled as taxi driver to bring food
to the family.
Cagayan de Oro City Police Office Deputy Director for Administration Lt. Col. Surki Sereñas said investigation is still going on as probers tried to gather more testimonies from witnesses and access of cctv and possible presence of dashcam footage in the area during the incident.
