BACOLOD City – A radio broadcaster was shot by motorcycle-riding gunmen on Monday in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.
Edmundo Sestoso of dyGB 91.7 FM was about to embark on a tricycle in Barangay Daro at around 10 a.m. when fired at multiple times.
Sestoso just ended his program and was bound for his boardinghouse at the time, this reporter learned.
The radio broadcaster – hit three times on the chest and another on the leg – is undergoing treatment as of this writing, his colleagues said.
Panay News was still trying to reach the Dumaguete City Police Office for comment and the motive in the shooting remained unknown as of this writing.
Presidential Task Force on Media Security executive director Joel Sy Egco told this reporter they are coordinating with Superintendent Jonathan Pineda of the Dumaguete City police with regard to the incident.
Egco assured that Sestoso will be provided with police security detail.
The gunmen also shot the tires of a pedicab whose driver had intended to rush Sestoso to Silliman University Medical Center, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).
“Good Samaritans had to wait for another vehicle to take the wounded radioman to a health facility, where he was expected to undergo emergency surgery,” the NUJP said in a statement.
Sestoso is a former chairman of the NUJP Dumaguete City Chapter.
The Dumaguete City Press Freedom Club condemned the incident, saying the attack could be related to the victim’s radio commentary.
Police were checking if the attack was captured on surveillance cameras.
The Presidential Task Force on Media Security aims to make the Philippines safer for journalists by 2020.
It targets to delist the Philippines from the Global Impunity Index of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
“This is our vision in 2020,” Egco said. “We are making an urgent appeal to delist the country from the list of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.”
“Failure is not option in this campaign,” he stressed. (With a report from ABS-CBN News/PN)
