DAVAO CITY, Philippines – A local radio station in General Santos City was peppered with bullets on Wednesday night.
At around 8:30 in the evening of July 3, an unidentified man on board a red pick-up truck open-fired on DXES, the local station of Bombo Radyo Network.
In a report on Bombo Radyo’s website, DXES’ Jojo Bacalanmo was on air at the anchor’s booth talking about the closure of Kapa while News Director Salvador “ Boy” Galano was on-duty at the newsroom when the incident happened.
Security personnel of the station was able to return fire but suspects hastily escaped. No person was hurt during the incident.
A deformed slug from a 9mm pistol and six empty bullet shells of a .45 caliber pistol were recovered by the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) in front of the radio station, the report added.
Bombo Radyo General Santos station manager Jonathan “Jan-jan” Macailing said the possible motive of the suspect might be connected with the radio’s hard-hitting commentaries against the supposed religious organization Kapa-Community Ministry International (Kapa) founded by pastor-businessman Joel Apolinario.
“Kung titingnan natin sa mga program may natatanggap tayong mga threat sa hindi natin kilala na mga personalidad dahil doon nila ipinapadala sa ini-on air natin na cellphone numbers na tumatanggap ng mga text messages.Marami kasing nagpapalabas at nagpapaaabot ng hinanakit sa Bombo Radyo dahil tina-tackle natin ang issue sa pyramiding scam na KAPA. Napapansin natin may nagpapaabot ng pagkagalit magingsa NBI, SEC at kay Pangulong Duterte na nag-utos ng crackdown sa iligal na operasyon ng KAPA,” said Macailing.
(We received threats from unidentified personalities through text messages on the mobile number we used for our program on the air. Many were airing-out their grievances on BomboRadyobecause we tackle the issue of Kapa’s pyramid scam. We can see many express their grievance against the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and to President Rodrigo Duterte who ordered the crackdown of the illegal operation of Kapa.)
In September last year, Macailing and Galano were arrested by NBI operatives after Apolinario filed a complaint against the two for allegedly extorting P5 million from him.
Apolinario alleged that Macailing asked for P10 million and later settled for P5 million to stop the airing of issues against Kapa.
The broadcaster denied the charges saying they were made-up. Macailing and Galano were released after posting bail for the robbery and extortion cases filed against them. (davaotoday.com)
