Surigao City Broadcaster Receives Death Threats

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – Three days before unidentified men shot a radio anchor and his 12-year-old son in Surigao City, a radio broadcaster received death threats after reporting the “rampant” operations of illegal slot machines in the same city. Surigao City is 1095 kilometers south of Manila.

A man went to dxKS-RPN Surigao station on 22 June 2016 and attempted to bribe station manager and broadcaster Tirso Clerigo with PHP 5,000 per week so he will stop commenting on the proliferation of “chololot” or illegal slot machine operations in the city. Clerigo told CMFR that he refused the offer and continued to report on the subject over his news program, Karambola-Surigao sa Radyo Ronda aired daily from 8:00 to 10:00 am.

On June 27, at about 6:00 pm, another person told the broadcaster about a supposed plot to kill him.

Clerigo said that he will not take this threat lightly. Clerigo reported the threat to the police the following day.

Three days after the threat to Clerigo’s life, dxRS-RMN broadcaster Saturnino Estanio and his son were shot outside their house in Barrangay Rizal on June 30. Both survived the shooting, have been discharged from hospital, and are currently recuperating.

Estanio had also commented on illegal gambling in the city. A report by online news site MindaNews  said that he had also received threats for tackling the subject over his radio program before he was shot.