PTV-4 news crew beaten up

MANILA, Philippines - Two members of a PTV-4 news crew were beaten up by a still unidentified group of men in Sta. Mesa, Manila before dawn Thursday.

Reporter Bernard Tan and cameraman-driver Dante Morada were going through Sta. Mesa when a group of men appeared at the corner of Valenzuela and V. Mapa streets at around 1:30 a.m., reporter Noel Perfecto and cameraman Larry Doon told Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim when they sought his help.

When Morada stopped the vehicle, which was marked with the station’s logo, to allow the men to cross, one of them hit the hood of the car. Morada was attacked when he got out to check the hood. When Tan got out to pacify the attackers, he was also beaten.

The two victims got back into the vehicle and locked the doors to escape further harm. The attackers broke one of the rear windows before fleeing.

Lim said he ordered Manila Police District director Chief Superintendent Alex Gutierrez and MPD Station 8 to hunt down the news crew’s attackers, described to be between 18 and 24 years old, sporting colored hair and multiple body piercings.