Aurora broadcaster still missing after 8 months

BAGUIO CITY — A radio broadcaster in Aurora, known for his environmental advocacy, has remained missing since he was believed abducted eight months ago.

Voicing its outrage over the disappearance of radioman Joey Estriber, the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Borders) demanded an explanation for what it described as the "indifference" of both local and national authorities to his fate.

Estriber, an anti-illegal logging campaigner, was snatched by four armed men outside an Internet café in Baler, Aurora on the night of March 3.

"It has been eight months to this day since Estriber was abducted and nothing has been done by the authorities to find and identify his kidnappers," the global media watchdog said in a statement yesterday.

"It seems that complicity between the local police and logging companies has prevented any progress in the investigation. The authorities in Manila must restart inquiries as a matter of urgency," said Vincent Brossel, RSF Asia-Pacific desk officer.

Estriber, who has four children, was a freelance journalist who hosted the program Pag-usapan Natin (Let’s Talk About It) on local radio station dzJO.

He was reportedly kidnapped a few yards away from a police station, but the police allegedly never questioned the witnesses.

Estriber has openly criticized the deforestation in Aurora and the possible collusion between the illegal loggers and local officials in his radio program.

He took part in a campaign calling for the withdrawal of the licenses issued to nine logging companies in Aurora.

Estriber also worked for Bataris, a local non-government organization, which a military officer described in a radio interview last February as a type of organization that should be combated.