(CMFR/IFEX) – On 23 May 2000, Vincent Rodriguez, a Pampanga correspondent with the Manila-based DZMM radio station, was killed during an ambush on Mayor Catalina Bagasina. He is the first Pampanga-based journalist to be killed during coverage. Rodriguez was part of a seven-boat convoy escorting President Joseph Estrada’s son Jojo Osorio Ejercito on a tour […]
(CMFR/IFEX) – On 23 May 2000, Vincent Rodriguez, a Pampanga correspondent with the Manila-based DZMM radio station, was killed during an ambush on Mayor Catalina Bagasina. He is the first Pampanga-based journalist to be killed during coverage.
Rodriguez was part of a seven-boat convoy escorting President Joseph Estrada’s son Jojo Osorio Ejercito on a tour of coastal villages when the ambush occurred at about 4:30 p.m. (local time). Rodriguez, who was in the second boat, was shot in the head and died instantly. Two other journalists were injured when their boat crashed into the riverbank.
Police identified the attackers as rebels belonging to the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB), a breakaway faction of the communist New People’s Army (NPA). RHB members are known for extortion, robbery, looting and gun-for-hire activities in Pampanga. Bagasina insists that the ambush was politically motivated.
In response to the attack, the Pampanga Press Club has been asked to write a new manifesto, urging the police and other law enforcement agencies to pursue their investigation until the masterminds of the ambush are unmasked. In addition, colleagues in radio have been encouraged to continue commenting on the Rodriguez death and prod police authorities to uncover the real motives behind the ambush.
Background Information
Bagasina became mayor in May 2000 after a Regional Trial Court declared her the winner of 1998 elections. The decision drove former mayor Fernando Baltazar to lock himself and his followers in the town hall for several days, as a delaying tactic, while he tried to get a temporary restraining order from the Commission on Elections. The police eventually persuaded him to step down. Bagasina claimed that veiled threats were directed at her during public speeches which Baltazar delivered before stepping down.
