Two Filipino journalists had just boarded a taxi after interviewing a congressman and his brother, a mayor, about their political plans when two unidentified gunmen riding in motorcycles fired shots at them.
(CMFR/IFEX) – Two journalists were attacked after interviewing local politicians in Marawi City last 1 October 2012. Marawi City is approximately 818 kilometers south of Manila.
Sonny Sudaria, Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao Bureau Chief of the Mindanao Daily News and Jessie Mungcal, reporter of the Asian Journal, told the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) that they had just boarded a taxi after interviewing Congressman Hussein Pangandaman and his brother Mayor Nasser Pangandaman Jr. about their political plans at their house when two unidentified gunmen riding in motorcycles fired shots at them.
Sudaria said that they were unharmed and that the security men of the Pangandaman brothers fired at the gunmen. The gunmen quickly escaped. Mungcal said that the taxi driver saw the gunman’s face.
Mungcal told CMFR that he called Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lucero, commander of 103rd Army brigade, for fear that the gunman might have accomplices. Mungcal said that the army came to escort them back home.
Lucero told CMFR that the police are handling the investigation but have not established the identity of the gunmen.
The two journalists said that they did not receive any threats before the incident and suspected that the attack might be intended for the Pangandaman brothers. They added that they were covering local politicians planning to run in the 2013 elections before the incident.
