Pampanga journalists get death threats

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Is this the season for death threats for Pampanga journalists?

The Pampanga Press Club (PPC) has expressed concern over the series of death threats that provincial journalists have been getting, the latest of which involved Ashley Manabat, co-host of the hard-hitting daily radio program Alas Kwatro Na Po on dwGV-FM.

Last Thursday, two molotov bombs were thrown at the Mabalacat office of Porac Bank, which happens to be the only sponsor of Manabat’s radio program.

"We have asked the bank to withdraw its sponsorship of the program because we don’t want it dragged into any danger. But we will go on with our crusade in exposing anomalies," Manabat said.

The day after the bomb-throwing, Manabat received an e-mail accusing him of helping a television news team that exposed the open trading of shabu in Mabalacat town.

The exposé led to the relief of a senior police officer in Mabalacat.

Incidentally, the bomb-throwing coincided with the third-year anniversary of the ambush of Porac Mayor Roy David in front of dwGV-FM where he hosted a program.

David was critically wounded in the attack, but three of his companions were killed. He died of natural causes last year.

"It’s getting to be a major concern for legitimate journalists in our province and there are indications that all the threats come from sources linked to a powerful politician," said a PPC member, who asked not to be named.

Earlier, the Central Luzon police had dispatched a police team to provide security to Tonette Orejas, a correspondent of a national newspaper, after she received threatening text messages last March warning her not to write about a rape case allegedly involving someone belonging to a rich Angeles clan.

She was compelled to maintain her police security for weeks after suspicious-looking men frequently roamed around her neighborhood in the City of San Fernando.

"Never in my entire journalism career in Pampanga have I seen journalists being harassed for crime stories they write," Orejas said.

At one time, the texter identified himself as an Angeles resident known to have a notorious criminal history. However, it turned out that this was merely done to mislead the police.

Rey Navales, correspondent of SunStar-Pampanga, Central Luzon’s only daily newspaper, got an e-mail apparently from the same persons who had threatened Orejas. He, too, asked for police security.