Filipino broadcast journalist gets death threat

SEAPA Alert: Filipino broadcast journalist gets death threat
5 May 2010
Source: CMFR

A radio broadcaster in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato in southern
Philippines received a death threat attached to a funeral wreath on
28 April 2010. North Cotabato is a province approximately 956.14
kilometers south of Manila.

Williamor Magbanua, 30, a radio blocktimer at dxND of the Notre
Dame Broadcasting Corporation, and information officer of incumbent
Kidapawan City Representative Bernardo Piñol Jr., said he found the
wreath hanging over the fence of his house at around 5:30 in the
morning (local time). Magbanua is also a correspondent for the
Manila-based broadsheet "Philippine Daily Inquirer" and of the
online news magazine GMANews.TV. A blocktimer is a freelance
practitioner who purchases "blocks" of radio time for a program for
which he then solicits advertisements. Blocktimers have been
accused of being in the payroll of politicians especially during
elections.

Attached to the wreath was a note in the Visayan dialect saying
that Magbanua had violated the rules of the Communist Party of the
Philippines (CPP) because he was peddling lies which trampled on
the rights of women.

The note was signed by a certain Dencio Madrigal, who said he was
the spokesperson of the Front 72 Valentin Palamine Command of the
New People's Army (NPA) Far South Mindanao. The NPA is the armed
group of the CPP. Magbanua, however, said he did not think the
wreath and the threat came from the NPA, but from the camp of the
political rival of Piñol, who, however, immediately denied that it
came from her.

The alleged NPA spokesperson said that if Magbanua persisted, he
would "face the consequences."

Before receiving the wreath, Magbanua said he had noticed
suspicious men following him. Last weekend, on 24 April, two
unidentified men on a motorcycle, with its headlights off, followed
him on his way home from the office of his boss, Rep. Piñol. This
happened again the next day (25 April).

The night he received the threat (28 April 2010), an unidentified
man was seen standing under a lamppost outside his house. The man
was later picked up by another man on the same motorcycle used to
stalk him.

Magbanua thinks the threat is election-related. He told the Center
for Media Freedom and Responsibility that the threat could have
come from Piñol's political rival, Nancy Catamco. Catamco, who,
according to Magbanua, has been saying that he has been fabricating
stories about her.

Magbanua denied that he has demeaned women in his radio program.
"Never in my program," he said. He challenged Catamco to listen to
the recordings of his program to prove her allegations. "She is
creating all those rumors," Magbanua said in Filipino.

He also said in an interview with National Union of Journalists in
the Philippines (NUJP) Kidapawan Chapter Chair Malu Manar that
"this is not the way the NPA writes their press statements. As a
radio reporter who used to write stories about the NPA, I know how
the rebels write and send their statements."

On 30 April 2010, Manar received in her e-mail an open letter of
the NPA Front 72 Valentin Palamine Regional Operations Command
denying that the threat on Magbanua came from them. The group said:
"May we reassure Mr. Magbanua that, as a matter of policy, and as
track record shows, the NPA does not send death threats, not even
to those who have been found guilty by the Hukumang Bayan (People's
Court.) The NPA through its Eight Points of Attention strictly
follows the rules and regulations on the proper conduct towards
civilians, including Mr. Magbanua." The "Open Letter to Williamor
Magbanua" dated 29 April 2010 was signed by Ka Dencio Madrigal.

Catamco denied the accusation of Magbanua in an interview with
Manar. "I won't do that, of course," she said. According to
Catamco, her supporters have heard him (Magbanua) say disgraceful
things against her during the campaign.

Upon receiving the threat, Magbanua immediately went to the
Philippine National Police (PNP) Kidapawan and filed a report.
Policemen have been assigned to guard his house from 2:00 p.m.
until dawn.

According to the local police, there are still no leads as to who
sent the funeral wreath and the threat. Magbanua has not filed a
complaint.