Journalist threatened over report on Rodriguez ambush
CMFR/PHILIPPINES – A reporter for a tabloid, Hataw D’yaryo ng Bayan, was harassed and threatened online over his coverage of a recent Rizal killing.
The outlet’s Facebook page published on a January 18 post covering the ambush of a female entrepreneur in Barangay San Rafael in Rodriguez, Rizal. The post featured a video of the crime scene and was captioned with initial reporting from Rizal-based journalist Edwin Moreno.
The video in the post has been viewed over 1.5 million times as of this writing.
Citing local police chief P/Lt. Col. Marcelino Pipo, Jr., Moreno identified the victim as Camille Camacho, a non-blood relative of Rodriguez vice mayoral candidate Edgardo “Umpek” Sison.
In the morning of January 18, two armed suspects shot Camacho nine times as she was in the driver’s side of her vehicle. Authorities claimed that a business dispute was at the root of the crime – shooting down speculation on the killing as being politically-motivated.
Moreno, 53, subsequently posted the incident on his personal wall, as well as on Kalawit News Broadcast, a Facebook page he also runs.
Since then, a social media user believed to be a relative of Camacho has been pressuring the journalist to take down his reports. Further, the netizen threatened legal action against Moreno for posting without the family’s permission.
Other enraged commentators took to cursing the reporter, vehemently urging him to delete his posts.
Fernan Angeles, news editor of Hataw, rallied behind his reporter. Said Angeles in a comment below the viral clip: “This video earned the ire of a local politician aspiring to become the Vice Mayor of Rodriguez town. Ang peryodista sa likod ng nasabing balita, si Edwin Moreno, ginigipit at tinatakot.”
All that Moreno did was his duty as a journalist, Angeles added in Filipino.
Moreno has since filed a blotter report with the Rodriguez police.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) published a January 20 Alert on the harassment of Moreno.