A Radio Station in Philippines Attacked

Source: Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility
August 16, 2002

An unidentified man shot at the guardhouse leading to a radio station in Angeles City, Pampanga, Northern Philippines in the evening of August 12, 2002.

Ody Fabian, a commentator for GV-FM radio station, said a witness saw a pickup truck drive up to the radio station’s guardhouse, as the shooter, who was on foot, fired on the structure. The shooter then boarded the truck and fled in it. The witness is a technician who stays at the radio station.

A guard who had fallen asleep inside the concrete guardhouse was not hurt.

Fabian, who is also the president of the Society of Pampanga Columnists, has asked Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin and Chief of Police Senior Superintendent Gil Pacia to investigate whether the shooting is in connection with the commentaries being aired over the station.

The latest issue the station had discussed was the missing P77-million allocation for flood control projects in the province. Congressman Francis Nepomuceno has been implicated in the anomaly.

Fabian said that initial investigations are still being conducted. No motive for the shooting has been established.

Ambushed

Last June 26, 2000, an armed group ambushed the car of radio commentator Roy David of the same station. Three people were killed and two injured in that incident.

David, co-host of the radio program “Pulitika At Iba Pa” (“Politics and others”), had just emerged from airing the program when the attack occurred. David was able to shoot back at his attackers, but was seriously wounded.

The co-hosts of David, Ody Fabian and Bong Lacson, remained in the radio station until the shooting stopped.

David, Fabian and Lacson had criticized alleged “jueteng” lord Bong Pineda and Pampanga Governor Lito Lapid on their radio program and in the Voice. “Jueteng” is an illegal numbers game rampant in Pampanga and other Philippine provinces, where it flourishes under the protection of police and local officials. Police were not able to prove Pineda’s connection with another ambush in the same province—a May 23, 2000 attack which killed DZMM correspondent Vincent Rodriguez.