Cebu broadcaster survives shooting

CEBU CITY — An unidentified gunman shot and wounded a blocktimer of Bantay Radyo dyDD as he and his radio program partner emerged from the offices of the Bureau of Customs at the city’s port area the other day.

Reynante Cortez, 30, was wounded in the hip by a bullet fired from a caliber .45 pistol and was immediately rushed by his companion, Lito Solon, to the Cebu City Medical Center where doctors later declared him out of danger.

A blocktimer is not a regular member of the staff of a radio station but merely buys a timeslot, which he normally uses for a commentary program.

Police could not immediately pinpoint a suspect nor come up with a motive, but Solon believes the shooting is linked to recent critical commentaries he and Cortez directed against a Customs examiner.

Solon provided the name of the examiner, but The Freeman is withholding his name pending the filing of charges, if ever.

Cortez and Solon secured a 30-minute timeslot at dyDD only last March and used it for a daily radio commentary program they called "Engkwentro."

Solon said the Customs examiner had an ax to grind against him and Cortez because of an "expose" they made in which they alleged that the examiner was a frequent casino visitor who can afford to lose up to P30,000.

"He already threatened us that he has a caliber .45 ready. He got mad at us after we lambasted him for his habit of frequenting the casino where he has no qualms of losing even up to P30,000," Solon said in Cebuano.

But Solon said the Customs examiner is just a suspect and that there could also be others, including some politicians who happened to be the butt of their scathing commentaries.

Still, he said that when he and Cortez went inside the Customs building prior to the incident and had snacks at the office canteen, they saw the examiner at a table near where they were, talking lengthily to someone on his cellphone, his face almost red with anger.

After about 30 minutes, the examiner reportedly stood up and went to his office.

Solon said that when he and Cortez eventually left the building, a man with a backpack appeared and tried to bump into them. But Solon, who is heavily built, said he anticipated the move and acted first by himself trying to bump the man.

The man, he said, backtracked and went away through the back.

Sensing they were in danger, Solon said he ran ahead toward Cortez’s car and got into the backseat where he got his own caliber .45 pistol and loaded it.

It was at this time when Cortez got to the car and was opening the frontseat door on the passenger side when the man with the backpack came running toward them and fired three times.

Solon said the first shot hit Cortez but that when the gunman turned to him and fired twice, the gun jammed, forcing him to flee. Solon said he wanted to give chase but feared the attacker had companions nearby.

At the Customs office, employees were aghast that Solon would suspect one of their colleagues as having ordered the attack, saying the examiner alluded to was a good man and that granting he, in fact, ordered the attack, it was foolish of him to have it done right outside the Customs building.

The Freeman tried to get the comment of the examiner in question but he was no longer in his office and could not be reached on his cellphone.

The Customs employees said it was not only the examiner whom Solon and Cortez had been hitting but other Customs personnel as well. They said the two blocktimers had a lot of enemies and described their commentaries as "baseless."

Solon did not say the purpose of their visit to the Customs offices. — Freeman News Service