A grenade attack on a radio station in Bukidnon, Philippines may have been targeting the station's program director or commentators who had been tackling illegal gambling and theft in their area.
A grenade attack on a radio station in Maramag town in Bukidnon province last 26 June 2013 injured at least one individual, but could have been targeting the station’s program director. The attack “visibly damaged” the radio station, according to the police.
Bukidnon province in Mindanao island is some 1,400 kilometers south of Metro Manila.
According to senior police officer Fernando Razalo of the Maramag police station, two unidentified men on a motorbike threw a hand grenade into the terrace of Radyo Abante dxGT 92.1 FM radio station at around 8:10 in the morning of 26 June.
Razalo said radio station employee Celso Cañamo was injured in the blast and was taken to a nearby hospital.
In a phone interview with CMFR last 28 June, dxGT’s program director Mars Medina said that Cañamo is the station’s housekeeper. But Medina said he could have been the target. On May and July 2012, Medina reported receiving threatening text messages.
The grenade was thrown during the airing of a pre-taped radio program of commentator Joas Dignos, Medina added.
A dzMM Radyo Patrol report said that the police are looking into politics as the motive behind the attack because the radio station is owned by provincial board member Gordon Torres. They are also considering the possibility that the attack could have been against Dignos or the station’s other commentators who had been tackling illegal gambling and theft in their area.
