Santiago City radio station strafed

SANTIAGO CITY — Unidentified men strafed an AM radio station here early Sunday morning, shattering the glass window of the announcer’s booth, the police said.

SPO4 Neopolo Rubio, officer-on-case, said the strafing of radio station dwSI of Nation Broadcasting Corp. (NBC) in Barangay Sinsayun occurred at 4:45 a.m., a few minutes before station manager Arthur Daguro was to go on air.

Police recovered a number of baby Armalite slugs a few meters from the radio station. Alex Afatin, a dwSI employee, said the gunmen fled on board an owner-type jeep toward the city proper.

Daguro told The STAR that he or Odie Gutierrez Jr., one of the station’s commentators, could be the target of the attack.

"I might be the target being the station manager or Odie because of his exposés, or the station as a whole because of its role in the ongoing political struggle between the Miranda and Navarro camps," said Daguro, president of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP)-Isabela chapter.

The radio station, the only AM outfit in the city, has been dishing out an hourly coverage of the political stalemate between incumbent Mayor Amelita Navarro and former mayor Jose Miranda.

The lawyers of Navarro have filed an electoral case with the Commission on Elections, thus delaying the proclamation of Miranda.

"I view the strafing as a form of harassment to restrain us from doing our duty to inform our listeners about the latest development in the political controversy besetting this city," Daguro said.

Gutierrez suspects that he, too, was the target of the gunmen due to his series of exposés about irregular big-time transactions involving some high-ranking city officials.

"I know who are behind this incident," Gutierrez said in his program. He asked Superintendent Rodolfo Villano, the city police chief, to order a no-nonsense investigation into the incident.

The Nueva Vizcaya Press Club, led by STAR correspondent Charlie Lagasca, has condemned the strafing.

In a statement, the press corps said the incident is another "offensive (against) the Fourth Estate while it performs its duty to inform the public."