Mabuhay ang dwRC Radyo Cagayano 90.1 FM
FACTSHEET:
Hinggil sa Pagpasok at Pagsunog sa Radyo Cagayano, Centro, Baggao, Cagayan
July 2, 2006
2:00 ng umaga
Biktima:
Station Manager: Susan Mapa
DJ reporters:
Arnold Agraan , Joy Marcos , Richard Ayudan , Arlyn Arella , Armalyn Baddua
Perpetrators:
8 naka-bonet na armado lalaki; isa ang nakasuot ng relos na pang militar at ilan ang nakasuot ng combat boots, isa sa kanila ay naka-fatigue, may dalawa (2) naka M16. Hinihinalang mga elemento ng 17th IB/PA dahil malapit lamang sa istasyon ang isang headquarter nito.
July 2, 2006 - 2 am pinasok at sinunog ng 8 naka-bonet na armadong mga lalaki ang Community Radio “ Radyo Cagayano” sa Centro, Baggao, Cagayan. Gamit ang gasolina na nakalagay sa dalawang galon ng mineral water. May naka military watch at ilan ay naka kombat shoes. Isa sa kanila ay nakapatig at tinatawag nila ng ”comander at sir”.
Iginapos at piniringan ang mga biktima. Kinuha ang lahat ng cellphones nila. Inilabas sila sa tantiyang tatlong hakbang lamang at pinagsamasama silang lahat. Tinutukan ng kalibre 45 si Richard Ayudan habang inilalabas sa loob ng istasyon.
Sugatan sina Armalyn, Arlene sa kaliwang binti/paa, si Joy nama’y pumutok ang kanang pisngi dahil sa umabot sa kaniya ang shockwave ng putok galing sa loob ng istasyon at may galos sa kanang balikat, at may pasa sa kaliwang bahagi ng leeg ni Richard dulot ng pagkakadiin ng baril na itinutok sa kaniya.
Gasolina ang gamit nilagay sa 2 bote ng mineral water.
Sa kabuuang personal na kagamitan ng mga staff ay umaabot sa P39, 130.00. Pitong (7) cellphone na may kabuuang halagang P21,000.00, personal na kagamitang nagkakahalaga ng P13, 000.00 (mga damit – pantalon, underwears, t-shirts and blouses, alahas- relo, gold and silver necklaces, silver bracelet; sapatos, tsinelas at mga toiletries), pati ang perang nakalagay sa kanilang bag na may kabuuang P5, 130. 00.
Ang pagkakatayo ng istasyon ay sa pamamagitan CDF ng BAYAN MUNA partylist sa opisina ni Cong. Satur Ocampo noong 2003. Ayon sa station manager, ”ito ay bahagi ng political reppresion on press freedom at ang walang humpay na pagkitil sa kalayaan sa impormasyon. Sa katunayan nito, ang groundbreaking ng radyo July 1, 2003 ay tinangka ang buhay ng 3 lider magbubukid na tumulong sa paglilinis sa paligid nito. Tatlong taon naming itinatayo ang istasyong ito, sa ngayon nasa stage kami ng test broadcast pero talagang ayaw nilang makapagtagal ang istasyon”.
Sa pag-iimbestiga ng mga pulis sa pangunguna ni SPO3 Jose Durwin, head ng COMPACT, Baggao, Cagayan; may nakitang magasin ng .45 at 2 basyo (musers) ng .45 sa pag-aaral ng mga taga Radyo Cagayano, sadyang iniwan ito ng mga “perpetrators” upang idiin sila at upang palabasing may armas at nagtatago ng mga bala ang mga biktima. ####
Radyo Cagayano
Community Radio
Baggao, Cagayan
ALERT: Community radio station razed down by masked men
July 1, 2006
Radyo Cagayano, a community radio station based in Baggao, Cagayan (a province more than 320 kms. north of Manila), was totally burned down before dawn of July 1 (Sunday) by eight armed men wearing ski masks.
Reports reaching NUJP said the arsonists entered the compound at around 2 a.m., poured gasoline into the radio transmitter and booth facilities, and set them on fire.
The arsonists reportedly held at gunpoint, blindfolded and hogtied six radio staffers who were at the station compound. They were identified as Susan Mapa, radio station manager, and staff members Erik Ayudan, Arnold Agaraan, Armalyn Badua, Arlyn Areta, and Joy Marcos. They all suffered bruises.
Local organizations condemn the incident as an attacka against press freedom and point to the Army’s 17th IB (under the 5 th Infantry Division) as the perpetrator.
In 2002, when the station held a ground-breaking ceremony for the newly-constructed building that houses the station facility, the farmer-leaders who came were attacked with bolos after they left the station allegedly by soldiers manning a checkpoint.
Reports say the radio facility is a joint project of the local mayor and local peasant organization called KAGIMUNGAN. The project was initiated in 2002 with government funding facilitated by Bayan Muna. After many delays and harassment, the facility had just started broadcast operations last May.
(IFJ-NUJP
Manila
Safety Office)
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UPDATE: Media Groups Condemn Burning of Community Radio Station
July 3, 2006
Media groups expressed outrage over the burning of a community radio station in Cagayan province. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) condemned the burning as an attack to press freedom and the people’s right to communicate.
NUJP spokesperson Jose Torres, Jr. called on the Arroyo administration to find and punish the perpetrators, even as he said their group claims government culpability on the crime because of its inaction on other attacks on media.
The station of dwRC 90.1 FM Radyo Cagayano, located at the town proper of mountainous Baggao was burned by eight armed men wearing ski masks at 2 a.m., July 2. The suspects took the mobile phones of the station manager and five staff, whom they blindfolded and tied up and forced out before setting the station on fire, using two gallons of gasoline.
At a press conference this morning, dwRC station manager Susan Mapa, cried as she recalled how the armed men wrapped her malong (blanket) around her head. She said some of the suspects were in camouflage and combat boots and carried M-16 rifles. Mapa said she heard one of the suspects referred to their leader as "sir."
Mapa said the five other radio station staff were injured as the suspects tied them up and forced them down on the floor. The five were identified as: Arnold Agraan, Joy Marcos, Richard Ayudan, Arlyn Arella, and Armalyn Baddua. She recounted that the six of them ran toward the nearby parish convent as the station was set ablaze while the suspects escaped.
An estimated P1.5 million worth of radio equipment were razed, and the personal belongings of the staff worth P39,130.
Mapa said that the police investigators led by SP03 Jose Durwin found a magazine of a .45 handgun and two spent bullets. "Gustong palabasin ng mga nanunog na nagtatago kami ng baril," she said. (The perpetrators wanted to make it appear that we were keeping guns at the station.)
Mapa questioned the delayed reaction of the Philippine National Police (PNP), whose headquarters were only 300 meters away from the station. The police arrived at the convent at 5 a.m., three hours after the incident, and merely interviewed them. The investigators went up to the site later at 9 a.m.
Brig. Gen. Jaime Buenaflor, civil relations chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has denied the allegations in a radio interview.
Bianca Miglioretto, vice president of the Women’s International Network of Asia Pacific and an official of the international network AMARC, said they will relay the news about the station’s burning to their 3,000 member stations. The community radio is a member of AMARC Asia Pacific.
"Community radio is one way of giving a voice to the voiceless if this voice is taken away by burning the people’s community radio station, it is a grave violation of their right to communicate," said Miglioretto.
"We will start a campaign of protest to pressure the Philippine government to give justice to the people of Radyo Cagayano," she added. (From Bulatlat.com)
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NUJP statement:
We demand an accounting
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) expresses its outrage over the burning on Sunday (July 2) of radio station dwRC Radyo Cagayano in Baggao, Cagayan by eight armed men wearing ski masks who also blindfolded, muzzled and tied station manager Susan Mapa and volunteers Erik Ayudan, Arnold Agaraan, Armalyn Badua, Arlyn Areta and Joy Marcos.
While thankful that no lives were lost in this latest atrocity, the burning of the station was as brazen an attack on Press Freedom and the People’s Right to Know as any of the scores of murders that have claimed 81 colleagues’ lives since 1986, when democracy was supposed to have been restored to our benighted land, and 44 since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power in 2001, the highest toll of any administration.
For while the arsonists deigned to spare the lives of our dwRC colleagues, they struck at the very heart of why the media exist – the inalienable right of the people to free access to information by which they can chart their individual lives and our future as a nation and as a people.
The brazenness of the arson is underscored by the fact that reports reaching the NUJP indicate the station was a joint project of the mayor of Baggao and a local farmers’ organization with government funding from the party-list Bayan Muna.
Again we demand that the Arroyo government order its law enforcement agencies to act with dispatch to find, arrest and prosecute the brains and perpetrators of this condemnable atrocity.
For, as we have said again and again in the still unsolved cases of so many of our murdered colleagues, and as various human rights and sectoral groups have pointed out in the case of the hundreds of activists killed or involuntarily disappeared since this administration came into power, inaction can only mean culpability or, at the very least, a tolerance of such a wide-scale and wanton violation not just of the media’s but of the people’s civil, social, political and human rights.
Reference: Philippines 09209010013
JOSE TORRES, JR.
Spokesperson
National Union of Journalists of the
(02) 411-7768
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MEDIA STATEMENT
3 July 2006
Ref: Ms. Sonia M. Capio
GMA accountable for latest attack against media freedom
“Ngayon Na, Bayan!”-Kodao Productions condemns in the strongest term possible the latest attack against media freedom in this country. At
two o’clock in the morning of July 2, eight armed and ski-masked men burned down DWRC Radyo Cagayano 90.1 FM in Baggao, Cagayan. They burned, hogtied and terrorized the station’s staff members and confiscated all their mobile phones. The victims are station manager Susan Mapa and staff members Arnold Agaraan, Arlyn Areta, Erik Ayudan, Armalyn Badua and Joy Marcos.
Our anger is underscored by the fact that Kodao Productions provided technical assistance to the operators and staff of DWRC as far back as 2003. We have also provided them trainings, the latest of which was in April of this year prior to the station’s test broadcast on May 27.
“Ngayon Na, Bayan!” – Kodao has strong reasons to believe that the perpetrators of this crime come from the ranks of government forces. Radyo Cagayano’s operation has been delayed by harassments by personnel of the 17th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army’s 5th Infantry Division many times. On
July 1, 2003 , elements of the same unit hacked Joey Javier, severely injuring his arm. Javier was president of KAGIMUNGAN, the local peasant organization responsible for setting up and eventually operating DWRC. All these belie the statement from the local police that it was the handiwork of the New People’s Army.
DWRC has now compellingly joined the ranks of Kodao, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, ABS-CBN, ABC-5, The Daily Tribune, Ang Pahayagang Abante, and many other media outlets and practitioners who have suffered the impunity of the escalating human rights violations by government personnel and instrumentalities. Our award-winning radio program “Ngayon Na, Bayan!” was the first media casualty hours after Malacanang announced Presidential Proclamation 1017 on
February 24, 2006 .
We hold President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines , accountable for this latest act of human rights violation, on no less than a media organization. We urge our colleagues in the media in the
Philippines and other countries to join us in our condemnation against attacks to press freedom and the people’s human rights. ###
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ALYANSA DAGITI MANNALON ITI CAGAYAN KAGUIMUNGAN Tuguegarao City, Cagayan |
July 02, 2006
Press statement
Referrence: ISABELO ADVIENTO
General Secretary
KAGIMUNGAN (Provincial Peasant
Alliance of Cagayan)
Malungkot ang buong mamamayan ng bayan ng baggao at ng buong magsasaka sa lambak ng Cagayan dahil sa pagkasunog ng pinaghirapan at ito lang ang aming tanging pag-asa upang maipahayag ang aming mga lehitimong kahilingan at karaingan para sa magsasaka na patuloy na pinagsasamantalahan at inaapi ng borgesya komprador, panginoong may lupa at dayuhang kapitalista sila ang nagpapasasa sa lakas naming mga bisig na gamit ang armadong lakas upang higit pag supilin ang karapatan ng mamamayan na malayang magpahayag.
Ang pangyayaring ito ay isang pagkitil sa aming karapatan at ng malayang mamamahayag, hindi lingid sa lahat na noon pang kasalukuyang tinatayo ang radio Cagayano ay may mga pagpigilna ng militar sunud-sunod na harassment sa aming mga lider magsasaka at maging sa ming mimbro, at ito ang sanhi ng pagkataga ni Joey Javier na tangkain patayin ang aming mga lider aktibista at maraming pangigipit sa amin para pigilan , hadlangan ang pagtatayo ng comunity radio.
Ang pagsunog ay naganap sa oras ng Alas 2;00 ng madaling araw ng 8 (walo) armadong kalalakihan na nakabonete at agad binuhusan ng gasulina ang compound at ang mga nagbantay na staff ng radio Cagayano ay ginapos, at binusalan,pati mata sina Erig Ayudan nasa teknikal ng radio Cagayano taga Mocag, Arnold Agraan taga Hasienda intal, Armalyn badua, Joy marrcos Arlyn Arella at ang Stasyon maniger na si Susan Mapa napakalupit ang ginawa ng mga salarin sa aming hanay . isang karumaldumal na pangyayari, sinunog na nga ang radio Community ginapus, binusalan,at tinakitan sa mata..
Kinukondena naming ang mga may kagagawan nitong pagsunog ng community radio na walang ibang suspek kundi ang mga military na mula pa nuong kasalukuyang tinatayo ang radio cagayano ay maraming harassment , pananakot, pangigipit sa amin mga magsasaka upang hadlangan ang radio Cagayano. Ang radio Cagayano ay hindi pag-aari ng isang tao kundi ito ay pag-aari ng buong mamamayan lalo na sa bayan ng baggao na kung saan maraming sakripisyo, hirap para lamagng maitayo ang isang radio na tunay na maglingkod sa mamamayan at tanging pag-asa, sandigan upang maipahayag, maiparating ang mga karaingan at hinaing ng mamamayan lalona sa mga magsasaka na patuloy ng pinagsasamantalahan at inaapi ng kasalukuyang sistema.
Parusahan ang squad arson at likidator ng 5th ID PA na sila ang maykagagawan sa lahat ng nangyayari ngayon sa mga progresibong organisasyon at maging sa mamamahayag, isang pagkitil sa karapatang mamamahayag at walang ibang utak kundi ang isang papet pasista at kurap na si GMA ginagawa lahat ng paraan upang mapanatili sya sa poder subalit di kami titigil hanggat di sia mapatalsik sa poder gamitin man ng armadong lakas di kami natatakot ang bawat pagkitil sa karapatan ay ito ang hudyat upang higit pang lalakas ang aming hanay,
Kaya’t nananawagan kami sa lahat ng mamamayan ng Baggao at ng buong lambak ng Cagayan laluna sa mga masugid na tagasubaybay bagamat ito’y radio testing broadcast pa lamang ay marami ng nakikinig at naghihinayang sa pagkasunog, batay sa aming namonitor maraming naghihintay sa pagbukas ng radio halos lahat ng boong baggao na naabot ng signal ay nakasubaybay lagi, kayat naghihinayang ang boong mamamayan sa lambak Cagayan, ibayong palakasin ang ating hanay at singhilin ang mga maykagagawan sa pagsunog sa radio cagayano , pagpatay sa mga lider aktibista, paghuli at pagkulong sa mga leder at miembro ng KAGIMUNGAN at pagsasampa ng kaso at ibapang mga karahasang nagaganap ngayon, ito ay isang paghadlang sa lumalakas na kilusang masa sa lambak ng Cagayan at ng buong bansa, bahagi rin ito ng all out war ni rehimeng Arroyo na ang pangunahing maapektuhan ay ang inosinteng mamamayan at ng mamamahayag kong kayat magkaisa tayo huag tayo matakot, samasama upang patalsikin si GMA at singilin parusahan ang mga maykakagawan sa mga sunudsunod na krimen.
Humihingi di kami ng tulong mula sa LGU at boong mamamayan ng Baggao upang haliin at parusahan ang salarin sa pagsunog sa Radio Cagayano na walang ibang suspek ay ang military mismo.
Katarungan para sa mga biktima ng karahasan!
Parusahan ang mga salarin sa mga nagaganap sa kasalukuyan!
Patalsikin si GMA
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July 3, 2006
NEWS RELEASE
CONTACT PERSON:Bianca Miglioretto, Vice President
Women’s International Network of
Asia Pacific
WORLD ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY RADIO BROADCASTERS (AMARC)
Tel No. 928-19-56
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees the right to Freedom of Expression.
A community radio is one form of the people to freely express their views and tell their stories.
While Article 19 today is mostly used to guarantee the freedom of the mainstream media such as the case of the Daily Tribune during Presidential Proclamation 1017. AMARC, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters stands for the peoples’ right to communitcate as a two way interaction. People should not just have the right to consume free media but people’s right to access to the media must also be guaranteed. Community Radio is one way of giving a voice to the voiceless. Radyo Cagayano was to give a voice to the people of Cagayan Valley, to the farmers, the women, the youth even the children.
If this voice is taken away by burning the people’s community radio station, it is a grave violation of their rigt to communicate.
AMARC has been supporting the establishment of community radio stations around the world for over 20 years. AMARC pressures for legislations that are favorable to community radio, it defends the rights of communities to access the airwaves and we conduct training, link community radio stations from around the world with each other. We document their experiences so that stations can learn from each other and we facilitate programme exchange among community radio stations and world wide radio campains for women’s rights, against racism, on HIV/AIDS, for the right to communicate.
Radyo Cagayano is a member of AMARC Asia Pacific and we strongly condemn the brutal attack by armed men in combat booths on the radio station. The radio was operating only for one month and it seems there are forces that fear what the people of
Cagayan Valley have to say. They do not want to give people the possibility to speak freely for themselves. So they want to silence the voice of the people with armed force.
AMARC demands from the Philippine Government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her agencies, to find the culprits and punish them and make them pay for the damage they did to Radyo Cagayano and the people of
Cagayan Valley .
AMARC will use its network of over 3000 member stations all over the world to disseminate the sad news about the brutal attack on Radyo Cagayano. Through the Solidarity network of AMARC we will start a campaign of protest to pressure the Philippine Governement to give justice to the people of Radyo Cagayano and trial the perpetuators who destroied the facilities Radyo Cagayano. And we also demand form the Philippine Government to immediately stop attacks on media and up-hold Article 19 of the Universial Declaraion of Human Rights. #
