Cop held for newsman’s slay

PAGADIAN CITY (AFP) - A policeman has been detained in connection with the murder of a local journalist, officials said.

Police officer Guillermo Wapili is under the custody of his superior officer as part of an investigation into the fatal shooting here of Edgar Damalerio, a broadcaster and editor of a community newspaper, last May 13, they said.

Wapili was summoned to join a police line-up last Friday, where a witness to the shooting pointed to him as the gunman who attacked the 33-year-old Damalerio, provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Pedrito Reyes said.

Wapili is under the custody of his immediate superior, Pagadian City police chief Superintendent Asuri Hawani, Reyes said.

Relatives of the slain journalist demanded the other day that the suspect be formally detained, citing potential conflict of interest.

Hawani had been the object of critical radio commentaries made by Damalerio, they said.

Damalerio was the fourth journalist to be killed in the past 17 months in Mindanao, scene of decades of Muslim separatist rebellions. None of the cases has been solved.