(CMFR/IFEX) – On the evening of 12 August 2002, an unidentified individual shot at the guardhouse leading to GV-FM radio station in Angeles City, Pampanga, Northern Philippines. Ody Fabian, a commentator for GV-FM, said a technician at the radio station saw a pickup truck drive up to the radio station’s guardhouse, as the shooter, who […]
(CMFR/IFEX) – On the evening of 12 August 2002, an unidentified individual shot at the guardhouse leading to GV-FM radio station in Angeles City, Pampanga, Northern Philippines.
Ody Fabian, a commentator for GV-FM, said a technician at the radio station saw a pickup truck drive up to the radio station’s guardhouse, as the shooter, who was on foot, fired at the structure. The shooter then got into the truck and fled the scene.
A guard who had fallen asleep inside the concrete guardhouse was not injured.
Fabian, who is also 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 was in response to comments broadcast on the station.
The radio station recently reported on the case of the missing P77-million (approx. US$1.5 million) allocation for flood control projects in the province. Congressman Francis Nepomuceno has been implicated in the case.
Fabian said that initial investigations are still being conducted. No motive for the shooting has been established.
Background Information
On 26 June 2000, an armed group ambushed the car of Roy David, a commentator with the same radio station (see IFEX alert of 4 July 2000). Three people were killed and another two were injured in the attack.
David, co-host of the radio programme “Pulitika At Iba Pa” (“Politics and Others”), had just come from the regular airing of the programme when the attack occurred. David was able to shoot back at his attackers, but was seriously wounded. His co-hosts, Fabian and Bong Lacson, remained inside the radio station until the shooting stopped.
David, Fabian and Lacson had criticised alleged “jueteng” lord Bong Pineda and Pampanga Governor Lito Lapid on their radio programme and in “The Voice” newspaper. “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 to another ambush in the same province – a 23 May 2000 attack in which DZMM correspondent Vincent Rodriguez was killed. Rodriguez was a Pampanga correspondent with the Manila-based DZMM radio station (see IFEX alert of 9 June 2000).
