Abalos activates Special Investigation Task Group ‘Johnny Walker’

Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. on Monday said that, upon orders of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., he activated the Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) "Johnny Walker" to run after and send the perpetrators behind bars who killed local broadcaster Juan Jumalon in Misamis Occidental.

"The fatal shooting of local broadcaster Juan Jumalon in Misamis Occidental yesterday was a deplorable and dastardly act that has no place in our society. It was a direct assault to press freedom and to a greater extent to our democracy," Abalos said in a statement shared with the media.

He added that the SITG has already come up with a computerized facial sketch of one of the suspects, and that sketch has already been made available to the public for identification.

The SITG has already done cross-matching the shells and slugs found at the crime scene, according to Abalos, and it already enhanced the recovered CCTV footage with the help of the PNP Regional Anti-Cybercrime Unit.

"We expect to have breakthroughs in this case at the soonest time possible," the DILG chief said.

"We extend our deepest sympathies to the bereaved family of Mr. Jumalon. Maaasahan nila at ng publiko na nakatutok ang DILG at ang pulisya sa pagtugis at pagpapanagot sa may kagagawan ng pagpaslang na ito," Abalos said.