A radio broadcaster who leases airtime said he survived a slay attempt on 28 February 2009 in the Philippines.
Radio “blocktimer” Ronaldo Doong said an assailant on a motorcycle tried to shoot him at around 9:45 a.m. (local time) last 28 February along a highway in Davao del Sur. Davao del Sur is a province approximately 995 km from Manila. “Blocktimers” buy “blocks” of radio or TV airtime for their programs, which they market to advertisers.
Doong, a blocktimer at dxDS-Radyo Ukay, told the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), a SEAPA founding member, that he and his cousin Alfredo Avila were also on a motorcycle on their way back to Digos City when another motorcycle overtook them. Doong was driving.
The man driving the motorcycle allegedly greeted Doong “Maayong Buntag, Bro (Good Morning, brother)” and then told him he should shut his mouth and stop broadcasting. While the driver was talking, the man riding with him allegedly pointed a gun at Doong and tried to shoot him three times, but the gun jammed.
Frustrated that the gun did not fire, the assailants allegedly kicked Doong’s bike off the road. Doong and his cousin fell to the ground. Doong sustained bruises and an injury on his left leg. The assailants fled in the direction of Digos City.
"They told me I was already hurting some people because of my commentaries but they did not say who these people were," Doong told the newspaper the “Philippine Daily Inquirer”.
However, in a 3 March 2009 report, Davao del Sur provincial police director Senior Superintendent Cesario Darantinao told the “Inquirer” that Doong had simply lost his balance. He said Doong fell because he was nervous because he thought someone was following him.
Darantinao told CMFR in a phone interview on 5 March that the possibility that the 28 February incident could have been a mere vehicular accident surfaced from the conflicting reports the police had gathered.
"I think somebody is trying to make this a big issue by making it a harassment incident," Darantinao told the “Inquirer”. He also told CMFR that some people might be doing so because of the upcoming elections. Doong is an adviser of the city mayor.
Darantino also told CMFR that the police only found out about the alleged slay attempt on Doong through reports in the Manila-based tabloid “Bandera” and the “Inquirer”. “They did not immediately report the incident so we were not able to investigate it promptly,” he explained.
A police officer at Digos City told CMFR that Doong’s cousin reported the incident only the day after (1 March 2009). Doong, however, said his companion Avila had immediately reported the incident to the police last 28 February 2009.
Darantinao emphasized that the police are still investigating the slay attempt angle. “We are not disregarding the slay attempt angle. Maybe it was true,” he said in Filipino.
Doong told CMFR on 4 March 2009 that the police had already interviewed him and Avila regarding the incident. The police also asked for his medical records.
Doong has been a broadcaster for four years. He now co-hosts the block time program “Kasama (Companion)” aired over dxDS – Radyo Ukay in Digos City. According to the radio station’s manager, Doong joined the program “Kasama” only a month ago.
Doong usually talks about developments in local government projects. Doong said he is also Digos City Mayor Arsenio “Boy” Latasa’s adviser on matters regarding the religious sector.
Just five days before the attack, Misamis Occidental broadcaster Ernesto “Ka Ernie” Rollin had been killed by unknown assailants along a national highway in Oroquieta City. Rollin was the first journalist/media practitioner killed in the line of duty in 2009 and the 78th since 1986.
