Death threat sent to Digos journalist via LBC

DIGOS CITY, Philippines — Another journalist has received a death threat in this city.

Ruby Mae Kinoc Simene, news director and anchor of dxJC Boss Radio, said on Friday, she received a threatening letter and a bullet delivered via LBC on Friday.

The sender, a Lemuel Torres, turned out to be non-existent after a check with Bansalan authorities.

Simene was the latest media practitioner to have received threats here since the start of the year.  Another journalist has reported threats to his life, although his claim has been doubted by the local police.

Superintendent Querubin Manalang, city police chief, said they had reviewed the close-circuit TV system of the LBC branch in Bansalan but got nothing at the time the LBC message was sent to Simene.

“There was no recorded footage due to a brownout that hit Bansalan when the mail was being sent,” he said.

Manalang said they were digging deeper into the threat directed at Simene.

Simene previously worked with Charm Radio – where she did scathing commentaries about some politicians.

On September 8, unidentified armed men forcibly entered the facility of MUEWS Radio in Barangay (village) Soong here, took away remote broadcast equipment and injured the lone guard.

After over a week since the MUEWS Radio incident took place, the local police had no clear suspect yet.

Local journalists here doubt whether the police are taking the threats seriously.

At an informal meeting outside the city police office here on Monday, they cited the case of a colleague, who has been accused of “imagining threats to his life.”

“Why would they say the threats are not real? Will they wait until someone gets killed again?” a correspondent of a Davao City-based radio station said, citing the case of at least two journalists slain here since 2006.

In July 2006, 55-year-old Radio Ukay broadcaster Racman Pace was shot dead after yet another day of hard-hitting commentaries.

Nearly four years later, local weekly tabloid editorial consultant Nestor Bedolido, 50, was also killed.

They added the journalist — whose claim that he has been threatened was doubted and who has requested anonymity for the moment — was even thrown to jail in July after firing his licensed firearm to deter armed men from entering the compound where he has been residing, on July 9 and 10.

The journalist has since faced charges of serious illegal detention as a government prosecutor trashed efforts by the complainant to withdraw the complaint.