PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—A former provincial official and four others were charged Wednesday with murder in the killing of broadcast journalist in Palawan.

Police filed the case against former provincial administrator Romeo Seratubias, who owned the gun used in shooting DWAR radio commentator Jerry Ortega inside a clothing store here Monday morning.

Also charged was Marlon Recamata Dichaves, the alleged gunman, who was caught by passing firefighters and bystanders shortly after the killing.

Seratubias surrendered to police after Dichaves pointed at him as the brain behind the gruesome murder.

Dichaves told investigators that he and an accomplice were promised P150,000 to kill Ortega.

Seratubias, who admitted that he owned the gun but sold it days before the killing, denied any involvement in the fatal shooting of Ortega.

Ortega, a former board member who once ran for governor, was a staunch critic of the current provincial administration and of the mining projects in Palawan.

He was an anchor of DWAR’s daily primetime commentary “Ramatak”.