Surigao broadcaster shot

TANDAG, Surigao del Sur — A hard-hitting broadcaster of an affiliate station of the Mindanao Broadcasting Corp. was shot twice by two motorcycle-riding men here past midnight last Wednesday.

Doctors at the Adela Serra Ty Memorial Hospital here have pronounced Arvin Malasa, station manager of dxRM Radyo Natin Tandag, out of danger. He sustained two gunshot wounds in the left chest and abdomen from a caliber .45 pistol.

Police said Malasa had just come from the residence of former provincial board member Mario Lumanao Jr., whom he wanted to invite to his radio program the following morning, when he was attacked.

Lumanao was to talk about a case he filed against Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. with the House committee on ethics, which has set a hearing on Feb. 18.

Malasa was riding in his motorcycle on his way home to Barangay Mabua, some two kilometers from the Tandag town proper.

Trailing him in another motorcycle was Ayrocendemi Medrano, general manager of the Shalom Multipurpose Cooperative and chairman of the Surigao del Sur Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives. He was also on his way home to the neighboring town of Tago.

When they reached Purok JDN in Barangay Mabua, the two unidentified men overtook Malasa and one of them fired at him.

Seeing Malasa fall down, Medrano assisted and rushed him to the nearby Cuartero Hospital. But since there were no doctors available, Medrano brought Malasa to the residence of Lumanao, knowing that the latter had a vehicle they could use to bring the bloodied broadcaster to another hospital.

Police have found three empty cartridges and two caliber .45 slugs at the scene of the slay attempt.