Media groups decry TV crew ambush in Marawi

By CONG CORRALES
Associate Editor

MEDIA groups took turns in strongly condemning the ambush of an ABS-CBN crew in Lanao del Sur on Saturday even as they called on authorities to end the “culture of impunity” by identifying and bringing the assailants to justice.

A three-person news team of the giant TV network led by broadcast journalist Ronnie Enderes had come from Ramain town in Lanao del Sur when their crew cab was shot at by motorcycleiding men in Marawi City round noon time on Saturday. No one was hurt.

ABS-CBN spokesperson for northern Mindanao Joel Ramirez said the news team had come from Ramain town to do a story about the bombing and toppling of a tower of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) that isolated transmission lines from Agus hydroelectric power plants. (See banner story.)

The assailants trailed the ABS-CBN van, and began shooting just as the crew realized that they were being tailed.

In a phone interview,  Ramirez said all three of the news crew–cameraman, driver, and Enderes–were unscathed.

Ramirez requested not name the cameraman and the driver for safety reasons.

He said the assailants were tailing their vehicle on motorcycle as soon as the news crew got out of Ramian.

“When they noticed the motorcycle was tailing them, they (news crew) tried to take another route out of Marawi City,” said Ramirez.

He said the driver saw one of the suspects pull out a gun so the driver swerved the vehicle where the bullets destroyed only the left-side window of their crew cab.

Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC) president Hugo “Jerry” Orcullo condemned what he called a direct attack on press freedom.

“We demand that the Marawi police get to the bottom of this, and swift justice be served. We are outraged,” Orcullo said.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) also called on authorities to quickly investigate the incident, and arrest the perpetrators “so that they may be brought to justice.”