CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Police in this city arrested on Tuesday, October 31, a suspect in the killing of radio commentator Federico "Deng" Gempesaw over a year and four months after he was killed in Phase 1, Sitio Macanhan, Barangay Carmen, this city, on June 29, 2022.
FEDERICO ‘Deng’ Gempesaw at his 'Bitayan sa Kahinganan' program at 106.3 Radyo Natin FM Cagayan de Oro on October 5, 2021. (screengrab from 106.3 Radyo Natin FM CDO Facebook live)
The 35-year-old male suspect, a resident of Sitio Macanhan, was nabbed by the tracker team of the Police Station 4 on V. Castro St. in Barangay Carmen on a warrant issued by Judge Marites Felomina Rana-Bernales of the Cagayan de Oro City Regional Trial Court Branch 39 on November 8, 2022.
Police Lt. Col. Evan Viñas, spokesperson of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (COCPO), said the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Gempesaw encountered challenges in arresting the suspect as they went to Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon to track his whereabouts.
“With the reliable information coming from the constituents, that’s why we were able to monitor his whereabouts,” Viñas said on Wednesday, November 1.
Police received information that the suspect had returned here and immediately conducted surveillance and successfully arrested him.
Gempesaw, 62, a radio block time anchor of 106.3 Radyo Natin FM Cagayan de Oro, was shot dead near his residence by gunmen onboard a motorcycle with a .45 caliber pistol. He sustained bullet wounds in the right eyebrow and the back of his head.
Read: https://mb.com.ph/2022/06/29/radio-block-time-anchor-shot-dead-in-cagayan-de-oro/
Viñas said the suspect’s cohort has been identified and a tracker team is tracing his location. Authorities are conducting a thorough investigation to identify the mastermind behind the killing.
Police are looking at different angles to determine the motive of the murder, including his job as a hard-hitting commentator.
A few days after Gempesaw’s death, then Misamis Oriental Gov. now Rep. Yevgeny Vicente Emano, and his political party PaDayon Pilipino, condemned the killing and offered a P500,000 cash reward for information on the suspects and the mastermind.
Emano said Gempesaw was a kind and hard-working person during his time when he served the city hall as a public servant under the administration of his late father, former Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Vicente Emano.
The Cagayan de Oro Press Club condemned the killing of Gempesaw and urged lawmen to solve and arrest all those behind the killing to prevent another similar incident from happening again.
Viñas assured the public and the media that they are fulfilling their mandate to arrest all individuals with standing arrest warrants and they are acting on incidents happening in this city.