DAVAO CITY — A local radio broadcaster received death threats and was accused of being sympathetic to communist rebels after she allegedly criticized the government and the recent photo shoot of President Rodrigo Duterte’s granddaughter at Malacañang.
In a report filed in the police’s Regional Anti Cybercrime Division here, Kathyrine Cortez of Radyo ni Juan said she received the threatening text messages on Monday, shortly after hosting her radio segment, “Morning Review.”
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said it learned that the threats came after Cortez, also Radyo ni Juan’s vice president for news and current affairs, criticized Isabelle Duterte who held her predebut pictorial at Malacañang, with some shots showing the presidential seal. Isabelle is a daughter of President Duterte’s son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte.
“The broadcaster compared this to the Marcos family’s lavish lifestyle during their reign,” NUJP said.
It said Cortez received several text messages from mobile phone number 0946-7002090, “warning her to slow down on her criticisms.”
Cortez, in the police report, said the first text message came in at 9:42 a.m.
“(H)inay2 lang bata ka pa! Cge ka pa pagda0t sa gbyerno murag ka korek! Undangi na inyong pagdpig sa komunista (Take it easy, you’re still young. You always criticize the government as if you are correct! Stop siding with the communists)!” she quoted the unknown sender as saying.
In the next message, Cortez said the threat became clear when the sender wrote: “Undangi na iny0ng kabuang, oi! basin di namo maabtan 2018 klaro kaayo m0 kumunesta (Stop your foolishness. You might not live to see 2018, it’s clear you’re communists)!”
The last message, she said, read: “[I]sang bala para nimu! meri xmas (A bullet for you! Meri Christmas)!”
Cortez had posted screenshots of the messages on her Facebook account.
She admitted the incident had caused her anxiety but added it did not scare her. “You can never silence me,” she said. —ALLAN NAWAL