THE Quezon City Regional Trial Court has denied the petition for bail of Junell Andagkit Poten, aka, ‘Junell Gerozaga,’ the identified gunman in the 2019 murder of Kidapawan broadcast journalist Eduardo ‘Ed’ Dizon.
In a 12-pages decision dated August 19, 2025, Branch 228 Hon. Judge Mitushealla Manzanero-Casiño, rejected the argument of Poten’s counsel, Atty. Israelito P. Torreon, that the prosecution’s witnesses failed to identify Poten as the gunman who shot dead Dizon.
Dizon, a radio commentator for Brigada News FM in Kidapawan City, was gunned down inside his vehicle on the night of July 10, 2019. He sustained five bullet wounds and died on the spot.
Investigation conducted by the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS), the government’s main agency to protect the life, liberty, and security of members of the press, showed that Dizon was killed days after the government shut down the ‘KAPA Community Ministry’ for being a front for financial scam and which Dizon regularly criticized in his broadcasts.
In April 2024, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, PTFoMS chair, approved the creation of the ‘Special Investigation Team (SIT) Dizon’ to reinvigorate the probe on Dizon’s murder headed by Malolos City Prosecutor Aldrin Evangelista, on the recommendation of then PTFoMS executive director Undersecretary Paul M. Gutierrez (Pinoy Exposé, April 19, 2024).
Gutierrez noted that Evangelista is among the DOJ prosecutors behind the successful prosecution of the Ampatuan clan in the infamous ‘2009 Ampatuan Massacre’ and is more than capable to prosecute the case against Poten and his accomplices.
The SIT Dizon, with the support of the Region 12 (Socsksargen) Police Office and the Makilala, North Cotabato local police, would arrest Poten on May 2, 2024, after nearly 5 years in hiding.
With the support of Secretary Remulla, Gutierrez also petitioned the Supreme Court for the transfer of venue to Quezon City to protect the integrity of the court proceedings, which was granted on July 17, 2024 (Pinoy Exposé, October 22, 2024).
The PTFoMS was compelled to request for the transfer of the venue after Poten’s accomplices, Dante Encarnacion Tabusares, aka, ‘Bong Encarnacion’ and Sotero Jacolbe, were granted bail by the court in Davao where the case is originally being heard.
Tabusares is KAPA’s principal organizer in Kidapawan and nearby areas in Eastern Mindanao.
Under Gutierrez, the PTFoMS also worked closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in shutting down ‘HASMADAI’ (Humanitarian and Spiritual Mission Apostulates of Davao and Asia, Inc.) that Tabusares was trying to set up to replace KAPA (Pinoy Expose, June 20, 2024).