ABS-CBN crew ambushed in Marawi

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Members of a local ABS-CBN news crew were ambushed in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur at noon on Saturday.

Reporter Ronnie Enderes and his companions, cameraman Emelito Balansag and driver Garry Montecillo, all employees of ABS-CBN in Iligan City, were in Marawi to gather updates on Thursday night’s bombing of a steel power relay pylon of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines in Ramain town when they were attacked by motorcycle-riding gunmen.

The three survived unscathed but the shooting damaged their vehicle.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman, who heads the regional peace and order council and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said the attack was an affront to journalists.

He ordered the police to catch the culprits.

Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. said he was saddened by the incident, noting that his administration has always been courteous to the media and is against any maltreatment of journalists.

Adiong said the local police and the provincial peace and order council, which he chairs, would do its best to identify the gunmen.

The attack on the ABS-CBN news crew was preceded by the fatal ambush in October of Marawi City police chief Superintendent Al Abner Wahab Santos. He was on his way to his office from a conference at the Lanao del Sur provincial police office when he was attacked.

Marawi City has lately been touted as the ARMM’s crime capital, with trade of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) widespread.