(CMFR/IFEX) – On the first-year anniversary commemoration of the murder of radio broadcaster Herson Hinolan, families and colleagues appealed to the government for a prompt prosecution in the case. Hinolan, station manager and hard-hitting commentator for Bombo Radio dyIN, died in a hospital on 15 November 2004, two days after he was repeatedly shot as […]
(CMFR/IFEX) – On the first-year anniversary commemoration of the murder of radio broadcaster Herson Hinolan, families and colleagues appealed to the government for a prompt prosecution in the case.
Hinolan, station manager and hard-hitting commentator for Bombo Radio dyIN, died in a hospital on 15 November 2004, two days after he was repeatedly shot as he was urinating near a carnival in the town of Kalibo, approximately 350 kilometers south of Manila.
According to a report by the “Philippine Daily Inquirer”, Regional State Prosecutor Domingo Laurea Jr. said the slow pace of the case was due to the various exchanges of pleadings and motions filed by the parties.
Fred Arcenio, mayor of Lezo, Aklan, is the main suspect in the case. A reinvestigation is being conducted after Napoleon Oducado, Hinolan’s legal counsel, questioned a 3 March resolution by Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Apolinario Barrios, downgrading the case against Arcenio from murder to homicide.
Oducado reiterated that there was “clear proof of treachery” that warranted a murder charge, as the witnesses, Peter Melgar and Marjorie Icamina, allegedly saw the killing and overheard the mayor’s plan to kill Hinolan, respectively.
Arcenio has denied the accusations, repeatedly saying he was in Lezo, 10 kilometers from Kalibo, during the time of Hinolan’s shooting.
Hinolan was the sixth journalist killed in the line of duty in 2004.
