Task force to go after Tarlac scribe’s killers

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga — The regional police command has formed a task force to look into the circumstances in last Saturday’s killing of an editor of a Tarlac newspaper.

Probers have not yet established any clear motives behind the killing of Orlando Mendoza, 58, news editor of the Tarlac Profile.

Chief Superintendent Alejandro Lapinid, Central Luzon police director, said Task Force Mendoza, composed of investigators from different police units, would gather information on the gunslaying of Mendoza, who was attacked while he was on his way home aboard an owner-type jeep in Barangay Armenia, Tarlac City.

Mendoza sustained multiple gunshot wounds, Lapinid said. 

Senior Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome, Tarlac police director, said they were also checking Mendoza’s background.

"We wanted to establish what his work was before he joined the media (last year)," he said.

Bartolome said probers were exploring several angles, including a land dispute.

Two years ago, Boni Gregorio, a reporter of Dyario Banat, a community paper, was also killed in an ambush in Tarlac. No suspects have been arrested.