Reporter mauled, shot in Metro Manila

CMFR/Philippines – A reporter of a national daily is in critical condition after unidentified men mauled and then shot him in Pasig City last 11 March 2012.  The attack might have been related to the illegal drug trade in Pasig City and nearby provinces. Pasig City is a part of the country’s National Capital Region (also known as Metro Manila).

Fernan Jose Angeles, a reporter of the Manila newspaper The Daily Tribune, sustained six gunshot wounds and is being treated at the Intensive Care Unit of the Pasig City General Hospital. Angeles started working for the Tribune only in January 2012, covering the Malacañang (Presidential Palace) beat. He previously worked for another Manila-based daily, the Manila Bulletin, and the local weekly news magazine OpinYon. He also worked for the information office of the Rizal provincial government. Rizal is a province east of metro Manila.

The shooting of Angeles was the second such case in Metro Manila in the last 12 months. Broadcast journalist Marlina “Len” Flores Sumera was shot and killed in Malabon, a municipality of Metro Manila, on 24 March 2011. Most of the journalists and media workers killed in the Philippines have been from the provincial press.

According to Senior Supt. Antonio Gumiran Jr., head of Task Force Angeles, unidentified suspects beat and shot Angeles in an alley near his residence in Barangay (sub-district) Palatiw, Pasig at around 10 p.m. (local time).  Gemma, Angeles’ wife, said her husband had gone out to buy a prepaid broadband load past 9 p.m. local time.

The Malacañang Press Corps (MPC) quoted Gemma in a statement it issued as saying that “Fernan said he knew his attacker, and that he was afraid because “malaking tao,” or someone influential, was behind it.”

Chito Lozado, deputy editor of the Tribune, said in a 14 March 2012 Tribune report that they believed the attack on Angeles was not related to his work at the newspaper. However, Angeles’ wife and his other colleagues believe that the attack may be related to his previous reports and commentaries in other media organizations on the illegal drug trade in Pasig and nearby provinces.

The police are looking into the alleged involvement of a drug syndicate in the attack. Gumiran also told the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) in an interview that Angeles may himself be involved in the illegal drug trade.

Gumiran said Angeles could be the “Fernando Javier Angeles” wanted for illegal possession of dangerous drugs. Gumiran said that they are waiting for the results of the fingerprint tests on Angeles to determine if he is indeed Fernando Javier Angeles.

Meanwhile, the MPC said it “expect(s) that the police will be able to find Fernan’s attackers just as quickly as they tagged him as being involved in illegal drugs.”

The National Union Of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said in a statement that “instead of working to solve the attack on our colleague, authorities are more intent on pinning him down on supposed drug charges on the basis of still unproven claims…Even granting that Angeles is, indeed, the subject of the warrant (of arrest), we believe that the priority of Task Force Angeles (should be) to solve the attempted murder of the journalist.”

Areport in the Manila newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer said Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo had directed DILG Office of Internal Security operatives to carry out a separate investigation on the shooting after he berated the officials of Eastern Police District for “giving emphasis on the alleged warrant of arrest instead of focusing their effort to capture and determine the motive of the suspects.”