Villar denounces shooting of radio station manager in Bacolod

Senate President Manny Villar today denounced the attempt on the life of RGMA station manager Bambi Yngson in Bacolod on Wednesday while he thanked the local police for the immediate arrest of a suspect in the shooting.

"The harassment of newsmen, particularly those who are critical to government personalities, should be condemned as it clearly manifests an attempt to censure press freedom as a means to expose irregularities in government," Villar said.

Yngson, 46, was in Sagay City, Negros Occidnetal around 8 am Wednesday when the suspect, Romeo Corbo, allegedly fired at him. Yngson was wounded in the left arm and was rushed to the Alfredo Maranon Sr. Hospital.

A policeman who was in the area immediately arrested Corbo, 39, a deputized agent of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Sagay City.

Villar, Nacionalista Party president, lamented that continuing attacks against media practitioners in the country fuel the perception of international human rights and press watchdogs that the Philippines is the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists after Iraq.

"We urge authorities to make sure that perpetrators of crimes against members of the press will be immediately brought to justice and send the message that these entities have no room in a free society such as ours," Villar said.

Chief Superintendent Geary Barias, chief of Task Force Usig, the special police unit investigating the murders of activists and journalists, said they are looking into the expose of Yngson on the alleged selective method of arrest made by LTO personnel of traffic violators as a possible motive of the shooting.