Radio broadcaster survives assassination attempt

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – An Ozamis City-based radio broadcaster survived an assassination attempt allegedly connected to his commentaries against a local politician. Ozamis City is a part of Misamis Occidental, a province approximately 903 kilometers south of Manila.

Cosme Maestrado of dxOC claims that an alleged attempt to kill him may be connected to his criticism of Misamis Occidental 2nd District Rep. Leo Ocampos. Maestrado and his co-anchor have been criticizing the lawmaker in his public affairs program “Ratsada 1494 – Fight for Change, Kausaban Para sa Tanan” for Ocampos’ allegedly illegal tourism business in Mt. Malindang, a declared national forest reserve.

Maestrado was driving to work last 9 November when unidentified men onboard several motorcycles surrounded his car and fired at him at the corner of Maningcol Highway and Bacolod street in Gango village. The assailant missed, and Maestrado even managed to return fire.

Congressman Ocampos denied in an ABS-CBN News Online report that he had a hand in the attempt to kill Maestrado. He suggested that Maestrado may have staged the ambush himself, which Maestrado denied.  Ocampos had earlier filed libel complaints against Maestrado and his fellow broadcasters, but the office of the city prosecutor had dismissed them for lack of probable cause.

The joint resolution of the city prosecutor’s office read, “the unpleasant adjectives were not used to attack the private life of complainant, but to describe how could he, a public official, (have) erected buildings and structures at Hoyohoy, Tangub City without the compliance with the law. Had the complainant been able to refute the allegation against him as false and fabricated, it could have been a different story.”

Ocampos filed libel complaints against Maestrado, his fellow broadcasters Raquel Villanueva and Oscar Visitacion, and dxOC station manager Remijio Bonostro, for allegedly publicly and maliciously maligning and humiliating him in the radio program of which Maestrado and Villanueva are the hosts.

In a report of GMA News Online, Region 10 police director Jufel Adriatico said the local police have provided Maestrado with security escorts. The police have put up checkpoints to track down the suspects and are in the process of gathering evidence and witnesses.