Tabloid reporter escapes kidnap attempt in Laguna

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna — A tabloid correspondent escaped from three men who tried to abduct him while he was waiting for a ride home in Calamba City Tuesday night, police said.

In a report reaching this camp, Dick Garay, a provincial correspondent of tabloid Police Files Tonite, was waiting for a ride along the highway in Barangay Halang at about 10:30 p.m. when the three men grabbed him.

Garay resisted and managed to run away as the unidentified men tried to shove him inside a Toyota Hi-Ace van with license plate WGI-919.

Garay said he immediately boarded a passing passenger bus and hid there all the way to Sta. Cruz town.

"Malakas ang kutob ko na hired goons ’yon ng mga nababanatan ko sa aking reports (I strongly feel that they are hired goons of people I have criticized in my reports)," Garay told The STAR in a text message.

Garay, however, did not elaborate. He has gone into hiding as he feared for his life.

In a mobile phone interview, Garay recalled noticing the same van parked near his residence in Pila town a few days ago.

"Mukhang matagal na akong sinu-surveillance ng grupong ito pero siniswerte pa rin akong malusutan sila (It looks like this group had put me under surveillance for sometime, but I’m lucky I was able to escape from them," he said.

Garay, who reported the incident to police authorities, admitted that he has suspects, adding though that he has been going through his articles to buttress his suspicions on who could be behind it.