Piercing Pens

NUJP Alert

It was 2:45 this morning, according to guards of nearby buildings, when a speeding motorcycle slowed down in front of the dxCC radio station in Cagayan de Oro City and the lone rider threw a Molotov bomb at the station. (more…)

“Today is a good day for the struggle for press freedom in the Philippines,” declared the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines as it welcomed the surrender of former police officer Guillermo Wapile, a suspect in the of Pagadian City journalist Edgar Damalerio.

The journalists’ organization reported that Wapile surrendered yesterday to the Philippine National Police in Region 9 and was presented to the media today. (more…)

Carlos Conde, moderator of PinoyPress, just sent an e-mail alert on the reported shooting of another journalist in General Santos City.

He wrote that Jonathan “Jun” Abayon, 27, a reporter of RGMA Superadyo in that city, is in critical condition after he was shot in the head early this morning, allegedly by a bodyguard of Filipino world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao. (more…)

“Two journalists slain in five days; four killed in 2004,” the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines reports in a statement.

Last Saturday, Roger Mariano, a DZJC-Akyson radio anchor in Laoag was shot dead while on his way home. Yesterday, Arnel Manalo, Batangas correspondent of Bulgar tabloid and the radio station DZRH, suffered the same fate.

“The one factor visibly missing in the Philippines is public indignation widespread and compelling enough to make it politically advantageous for the Philippine government to rigorously go after the killers,” writes Philippine Journalism Review editor Luis Teodoro. (more…)

Another media practitioner was killed Thursday last week. The victim was Radyo Natin broadcaster Eliseo “Ely” Binoya of General Santos City.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJP), strongly condemned the killing. “Perhaps because the perpetrators have been able to get away with it, the attacks against journalists continue,” it said in a statement.

NUJP also listed a series of attacks on journalists this year:

• February 11 - Ruel Endrinal of DZRC in Legazpi City was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen.
• February 13 - Modesto Gutierrez, a radio commentator of DWSI in Santiago City, Isabela, survived a grenade attack.
• June 8 - Cirse “Choy” Torralba of Angel Radio in Cebu City was injured in an ambush.