Whatever happens to the death of a mediaman?

Three years and almost a month, a hard-hitting broadcast commentator was gunned down in downtown Iligan.

Local mediamen and nearby condemned the killing of their colleague, Fernando “Nanding” Rebaldo Solijon, who was gunned down in the night of August 29th by a suspect or suspects yet to be apprehended by authorities.

In a joint meeting of some media groups two days after the killing, journalist leaders unanimously vowed of strengthening their ranks in protecting their ”cherished press freedom” threatened by this dastardly act.

The groups’ leaders signed a manifesto calling for “the immediate transparent investigation, and prosecution of not only the heartless killers but also the people behind the merciless killing of the broadcaster.”

The group also created an ad hoc committee composed of practitioners from the broadcast and print media to monitor the on-going investigation conducted by the authorities.

More than three years later, today, some are still asking whatever happens to the killing. Was justice for Nanding attained? Was it just forgotten? Or was it because Iligan has the most disunited media where Nanding belonged?

Speaking of disunity, it is sad to know that the koMEDIAnte or maninigbas in Iligan and nearby dominate the scene in public especially among newsmakers. They are getting more attention from newsmakers than the legits.

The so-called koMEDIAnte are those who are roaming from one place to another asking personalities for press conferences or interviews for fees and in the end could not deliver to the newsmakers because they have no regular media outlets.

It is high time that legitimate media in Iligan should strengthen themselves and come out and show as a group that they are stronger than the maninigbas instead of allowing the latter grab and dominate the scene from them.

The New Ranao Star