A regional trial court has sentenced Jovani Orenia to life imprisonment for the 2015 murder of Boholano radio broadcaster Engr. Maurito Lim, concluding a decade-long case that showed risks faced by media workers in the country.
Judge Jennifer Chavez-Marcos of the Tagbilaran City-based Regional Trial Court Branch 2 handed down the verdict Thursday, finding Orenia guilty of shooting Lim with a .45 caliber pistol outside DYRD radio station on February 14, 2015.
Lim was arriving to host his program when he was killed.
Police arrested Orenia, described as a professional hitman, during a drug sting operation in March 2015.
A witness later identified him as Lim’s shooter.
Investigators said the killing may have been motivated by a land dispute or Lim’s reporting on Bohol’s drug trafficking stories.
Lim worked as a “blocktimer,” purchasing airtime for his radio program.
He was the second journalist killed in the Philippines in 2015.
The sentence of reclusion perpetua carries a minimum of 30 years imprisonment.