A year after surviving a slay attempt, a journalist based in Manila, Philippines is again under threat in connection with a police raid on an illegal drug trade site.
(CMFR/IFEX) – A year after surviving a slay attempt, a journalist based in Metro Manila is again under threat in connection with a police raid on an illegal drug trade site.
Fernan Angeles, InterAksyon.com correspondent and former The Daily Tribune reporter, told CMFR in an e-mail that his wife, who was using his old mobile number, received two threatening text messages from mobile number +639238286042.
Angeles received the first text message on 11 March 2013, exactly a year after he was mauled and shot by alleged members of a drug syndicate in Pasig City. The text message read, “You have nowhere to run. You’re at a dead end.”
Angeles received another text message on 12 March saying “B-A-N-G !” CMFR tried calling the mobile number used to send the threats, but received no answer.
Angeles also told CMFR that a friend had warned him of a plot to kill him last March 10.
“(My friend) learned that I am being hunted and held responsible for a (police) raid on the old shabu tiangge (market) compound in Pasig City,” Angeles said in his e-mail.
Angeles’ friend alleged that his information came from a police officer of the Eastern Police District (EPD).
In an e-mail to CMFR, the EPD said that “Fernan has never been a subject of any discussion or case conferences that we had in order for us to solve the drug issue in Mapayapa Compound. The operation that EPD had on 10 March 2013 was because of the search warrant issued by Honorable Judge Marino M Dela Cruz, Jr of RTC (Regional Trial Court) Branch 22, Manila on 6 March 2013 against three Muslim individuals for Illegal drug trade and possession of high- powered firearms.”
On 11 March 2012, Angeles, then a reporter for the Manila newspaper The Daily Tribune, was mauled and shot six times in Pasig City. The attack was said to have been connected to Angeles’ reports and commentaries on the illegal drug trade in the city. The perpetrators are facing attempted murder charges before the Pasig RTC.
