TABUK CITY—Members of the Kalinga media have condemned the attempt to burn down the government-owned dzRK-Radyo ng Bayan in Bulanao Norte village here on May 23.
“We take the act as a direct assault on press freedom as it was obviously designed to prejudice the operation of the radio station by burning down its facilities and by cowing its staff to silence,” they said.
The act “was barbaric because if the perpetrators felt aggrieved by something that was aired over the radio, they should have demanded and sought redress through the proper process instead of burning down the facilities of the vital installation,” they said.
The dzRK-Radyo ng Bayan is the only radio station in Kalinga.
The Kalinga Media Club urged the police to track down the culprits and bring them to justice.
“They should unmask and file the necessary charges against whoever is responsible for the crime at the quickest possible time,” the club said in a statement.
The club members said they believed the attack was aimed at radio announcer Jerome Tabanganay, who, they noted, had been “relentless in his campaign against criminality and corruption in the province.”
“The timing and circumstances of the attempted arson indicate that it might be connected with the resumption of the jueteng operations in Tabuk City,” they said.
Basilio Baluyan, the station manager, said their guard and radio technician were awakened by “sound of something heavy falling on the metal sink” at past 1 a.m. on May 23. When they investigated, there was already fire inside the comfort room and the technician’s quarters, he said.
Baluyan said the two men used water and the fire extinguisher to put out the fire.
Police investigators said the suspects poured gasoline into the two rooms through a window and then ignited it using a bottle with a burning cloth.
The attempted burning came more than a year after Tabanganay was shot and wounded by three men as he entered the radio station for his program. Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon