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Sunday, October 23, 2005
Armed men harass journalist
By Reynaldo G. Navales
MABALACAT -- Police immediately secure a journalist here after three unidentified men cocked their long rifles at him while driving along a dark street in Barangay Lakandula here Friday night.
Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina, Pampanga Provincial Police Director ordered Mabalacat Police Chief Renato Soria to assign a police escort for Ding Cervantes after the Friday incident.
Cervantes, a staff reporter of the Philippine Star and editor of a weekly tabloid based in Angeles City, said he was on his way home from Clark when a man suddenly surfaced as he negotiated a left turn towards 6th street in Lakandula. The man looked at him and cocked a rifle in his left hand.
"I thought there could have been a burglary or something in the area and the man was running after the burglar," Cervantes said.
But a few meters from where the man surfaced, two more men showed up and positioned themselves on the opposite sides of the road. The two men also had long rifles which they cocked as Cervantes neared them.
"I drove a little faster though I made it sure that I did not appear panicky so as not to agitate them should their intention is to harm me," Cervantes said.
Upon reaching home, Cervantes sent text messages to his colleagues in the media about the incident. Tonette Orejas of the Philippine Daily Inquirer immediately relayed the information to Espina who wasted no time in providing Cervantes with security.
Soria dispatched four policemen to Cervantes' home to conduct an investigation regarding the incident and map out security measures.
Cervantes has been exposing illegal gambling anomalies in his recent articles, particularly in Angeles City.
Angeles police chief Senior Superintendent Policarpio Segubre also called up Cervantes Saturday morning and offered to provide the latter with security personnel.
In 1997, Cervantes survived a gunshot wound inflicted by a security guard while he was covering the closure of a pollutant fermentation plant in Apalit, Pampanga.
He was hospitalized for four days in San Fernando, Pampanga, but refused any offer of assistance from the plant management.
Retired former police director general Edgardo Aglipay, who was then Central Luzon police chief, was the one who motored Cervantes to the hospital.
Aglipay later told Cervantes that the shooting seemed premeditated, as he cited the trajectory of the bullet, which hit him.
The Pampanga Press Club (PPC) has condemned in the strongest possible term the harassment made on Cervantes.
PPC president Ashley Manabat said their club would seek a full investigation of the case.
"The PPC would continue to be vigilant against perceived media harassment especially this time when murder on provincial newsmen has been going on making the Philippines as the most dangerous place for the working journalists," Manabat added. (Sunnex)
(October 23, 2005 issue)
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