Armed men try to barge into radio station building

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — About 20 men, believed to be mostly armed, tried to barge into the Carlos Uy Building, which houses the station of MBC Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo, at Mandurriao district, this city, shortly after midnight or at dawn of Thursday.

The presence of closed circuit television cameras installed in several parts of the building did not prevent the “intruders” from daring to enter the premises. They arrived in a convoy of about 10 vehicles, consisting of vans, pickups, utility vehicles, and a luxury sedan.

The CCTV footage showed a man wearing a T-shirt and short pants disembarked from the driver’s seat of the sedan and hurriedly walked towards the building, and then peered through a makeshift steel enclosure. It appeared that the man was holding on to something similar to a pistol. Several other men, carrying small bags, were then seen following the man from the sedan.

In another CCTV footage, the man from the sedan went to the padlocked main gate on the building’s ground floor, seemingly ignoring a heavily-built person who appeared to be dissuading him from doing so. When the man failed to shove open the gate, another person grabbed the CCTV camera off its installation. They later left and brought with them the camera.

Media organizations in Iloilo and around the country, as well as netizens, later condemned the incident, which was caught on another CCTV camera and its footage posted online.

John Paul Tia, station manager of Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo, said on Thursday they did not know the men who tried to storm the building. It was gathered that last anchorman onboard Wednesday evening was Jun Capulot, who tackled the issue of the illegal drugs trade in the city.

Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo, in its official statement, said: “We did not know these people and we were not sure of their intentions. But we were definitely certain they wanted more than just a past-midnight hello. This is not the first time this happened to Aksyon Radyo for having remained steadfast and true to its reportage and commentaries in the fight against corruption, criminality and the crusade against illegal drugs. A lot of things — organic and inorganic — have been thrown at our station premises. And so this incident no longer surprises us.”

The radio station believed these people may have been aggrieved of its commentaries. “This we understand. We also understand that their leader must be really somebody to have a nice and expensive brand-name car.”

The statement added that the incident brought fear among the (station) employees. “We can only cringe at the thought of what could have happened had they gained access on the station. But if we let fear reign over us, aren’t we telling every one of you to also be afraid? We have reported the incident to authorities. We will wait for the results of their investigation. Hopefully they can readily identify those people.”

Identified

As of yesterday morning, the Iloilo City Police Office said it already identified some of the men who tried to barge into the building. ICPO director, Senior Superintendent Khasmir Disomangcop, however chose not to reveal their identities pending further investigation and the filing of charges.

Disomangcop had also asked the Police Regional Office-6 to enhance the CCTV footage that caught the incident for easier identification of the intruders. However he said the men’s motive of trying to enter the building was still to be ascertained, or if Aksyon Radyo’s claim of being the most likely target was true.

Disomangcop assured the public and the journalists, though, that whoever will be the suspects will be arrested and charged. (FREEMAN)