Husband of slain broadcaster seeks deeper probe

MANILA, Philippines - The husband of a radio broadcaster gunned down by alleged hired killers in Malabon City last March 24, appealed yesterday for a deeper probe into the incident, as he lamented the slow progress in efforts to identify and arrest the suspects.

John Sumera, husband of murder victim Marlina “Len” Sumera noted that despite the filing of charges by the Criminal Investigation and DetectionGroup(CIDG) against at least five alleged members of the New People’s Army’s (NPA) liquidation squad, there is no significant development in the case.

Sumera added that those charged, “are all John Does and nowhere to be found.”

“The gunmen are still roaming freely in Malabon. I already left our house in the area for I felt that even my kids are now in danger,” Sumera told The STAR in a telephone interview yesterday.

Len was on her way to the dzME station in Caloocan City when she was gunned down by at least five suspects including a woman.

Police said the gunmen were hired killers and a land dispute between two homeowners’ groups in Maysilo, one of which was headed by the victim, would be the “most likely motive” behind the killing.

Sumera however maintained that his wife’s murder was not a simple case of land dispute, but is “something more sinister."

On April 4, the CIDG filed a murder case against a certain Carlos Alejandro, an alleged NPA member, an alias “Al Pilay” one Ka Rosa and two others before the Malabon City prosecutor’s office after a witness tagged them as Len’s killers.