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Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Radioman survives ambush, wounded
By Minerva B. Gerodias & Garry Cabotaje
CEBU CITY -- Veteran commentator Cirse "Choy" Torralba survived an attempt on his life Tuesday afternoon as he was about to leave Angel Radio, where he works.
Torralba took three bullets in his left arm and shoulder, although his lone attacker fired more times than that.
He was declared out of danger but remained confined in Cebu Doctors' Hospital Tuesday night.
Torralba had just finished his 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. commentary program "Interaction" when he was attacked.
Security guard Evelyn Pelayo said the gunman appeared in front of Torralba's car just as he and his driver got in, and fired a series of shots.
Angel Radio, owned by Nation Broadcasting Corp. (NBC), holds office in the Vacation Hotel building along Don Jose Avila St., Cebu City.
One live bullet, a slug and 12 empty shells of a .45 handgun were found in the crime scene.
Torralba was able to fire back with his .38 snub-nosed revolver while inside the car, but also missed.
The attacker drove away in a white car (UUJ-988) toward Juana Osmeņa St. He was described as wearing a white polo shirt, dark sunglasses and denim pants.
Torralba, Cebu media coordinator of vice presidential aspirant Loren Legarda, doesn't believe that politics was the motive for the attack, which he suspects was provoked by his radio commentaries. It was his first attack after 22 years in the broadcast industry.
The radioman had just settled in his car's front passenger seat about 1:45 p.m. when a man suddenly appeared right in front of his vehicle.
Though already wounded, Torralba managed to grab his handgun from his clutch bag while the attacker was approaching his car.
"He was about to finish me off when I fired back," Torralba recalled in an interview in his hospital room last night.
He described the gunman as young, good-looking, about 5'2", in his mid-20s and wearing a white long-sleeved polo.
Torralba said the first two shots did not hit him and that the assailant's gun briefly jammed.
Police believed that the attacker failed to hit Torralba because his Daewoo Espero car was tinted. Also, Torralba managed to duck as he grabbed his revolver from his clutch bag beside him.
The successive shots were heard in the nearby Sacred Heart School for Girls. School officials advised their students to stay inside the campus for their safety, while waiting for their drivers and parents to fetch them.
Witnesses said it took policemen almost an hour before they arrived at the scene.
Security guard Pelayo said Torralba went out of the station after his program and had his lunch in a restaurant across the road.
After about 15 minutes, he went back to the station and talked with assistant manager Beth David.
Then, he went out and told his driver Randy Libradilla that they were leaving.
Security guard Pelayo said she ran inside the station to inform the employees about the attack because she feared the gunman might shoot them too.
For his part, Libradilla said he was about to turn on the air-conditioner in the car when the first shot rang out. He ran outside the car and hid behind the gate of the hotel.
He saw the gunman board a getaway car.
Libradilla went inside Torralba's car and they both ran inside the station.
Station messenger Joel de la Cruz brought Torralba to the hospital on board the station's service multicab.
Libradilla has been driving for Torralba since March. He said he did not hear any threats made against his employer.
The shooting prompted the radio station to add two more security guards.
Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) Chief Pablo Labra II said they are considering several angles like Torralba's being a commentator, his being active in politics during the last elections and his personal activities.
Bryan Madronero, president of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas in Cebu, condemned the assault.
Last June 12, 2003, Cebu-based blocktimer Rey Cortez was also attacked while about to get inside his car parked at the Bureau of Customs compound in Aduana.
Cortez also survived the attack but the crime remained unsolved.
Torralba hosts the program "Angel Radio Interaction" in tandem with Kit Calijan, the station's news director.
Station manager Dodi Conejero said in a phone interview that Angel Radio co-produced the program with Torralba and it has been running for almost three years.
Among Torralba's first visitors in the hospital were Rep. Raul del Mar and former Citom chief Valeriano "Bobit" Avila.
(June 9, 2004 issue)
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