First death anniversary of Mindanao photog marked

TUBOD, Lanao del Norte — Mindanao journalists commemorated in Davao City yesterday the first death anniversary of photojournalist Gene Boyd Lumawag who was gunned down in Jolo, Sulu.

Lumawag, a photojournalist of the Davao City-based MindaNews, was shot dead in downtown Jolo after taking a photograph of the sunset at the Jolo pier on Nov. 12 last year.

In a news briefing last Wednesday, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales vowed to look into Lumawag’s killing following reports that the triggerman might have been an intelligence agent.

Two suspected Abu Sayyaf members, a certain Omar and Iting Sailani, have pending arrest warrants issued on Dec. 13 last year by Regional Trial Court Judge Allan Abubakar in connection with Lumawag’s killing.

Records showed that Lumawag was the ninth Filipino journalist killed in 2004 and the 58th since 1986.

Lumawag’s father, Rene, photo editor of SunStar-Davao, was quoted as saying that his son "was a victim of wrong information or wrong intelligence report."

To commemorate Lumawag’s first death anniversary, his colleagues attended a Mass at St. Jude Parish in Davao City, visited the San Pedro Memorial Park where he was buried, and opened an exhibit of his photographs dubbed "Beyond the Sunset" at the NCCC Mall.

Masses for Lumawag were also celebrated at Mt. Carmel Parish in Jolo and in other parts of Mindanao.