NUJP, police: Radioman shot in Quezon province

MANILA, Philippines – A radio broadcaster in Sariaya town in Quezon province was shot by a lone gunman on Sunday, police and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said Monday. In an advisory, the NUJP quoted Delfin Mallari of the union’s Quezon chapter as saying that Pablo Castañeda, who uses the name Bill Tesalona in his broadcasts at dzLT radio station, was shot on his face and chest. In a phone interview with GMANews.TV, P01 Teresa Abanilla of the Sariaya police station confirmed that a certain "Tesalona" was shot Sunday afternoon. "Nasa ospital pa siya ngayon [He is still in the hospital," Abanilla said. She, however, could not provide further details because Sariaya police chief Superintendent Danilo Morzo and the investigators are out on the field. According to the NUJP advisory, Morzo identified the suspect as a certain Arturo Remo, who fired upon Castañada while the radioman was drinking with friends in his house at 5:45 p.m. on Sunday. Remo was then "rushed at and mauled" by Castañada’s drinking buddies and was taken to a local hospital. Castañada was admitted to the Quezon Medical Center in Lucena City. But even as Morzo said that the attack on Castañada was not work-related, the incident marks the fifth attack on media practitioners this year. Last June 25, radioman Jonathan Petalvero was shot dead in a restaurant in Bayugan town in Agusan del Sur province. According to the New-York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), three other journalists died violently last June. Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot newspaper columnist Antonio Castillo in Masbate province on June 12, according to local and international news reports. Radio commentator Crispin Perez, who was also a lawyer, was murdered on June 9. Another journalist, Jojo Trajano, was killed in crossfire while covering a police raid in Rizal province on June 3. The Philippines has been tagged by international media organizations such as the CPJ and the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres as one of the most dangerous places for journalists. According to local media watch groups such as the NUJP and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, around 100 journalists have been killed in the country since the restoration of democracy in 1986. - GMANews.TV