Negros Oriental broadcaster wounded in shooting

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines —Motorcycle-riding men shot a radio broadcaster in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental yesterday.

Edmund Sestoso, 51, of dyGB FM had just alighted from a tricycle in front of his boarding house in Barangay Daro when the incident occurred. He remained confined at the Siliman University Medical Center.

Senior Superintendent Edwin Portento, Negros Oriental police director, said he asked for blood donations for Sestoso, who was reported to be in critical condition.

A task force was created to investigate the shooting.

Sestoso, former chairman of the Negros chapter of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines, hosts a news and public affairs program titled Tug-anan sa Power 91.

Footage taken by a closed-circuit television camera at a hotel near the scene showed that a motorcycle was following Sestoso’s tricycle.

Senior Inspector Fortunato Villafuerte said they are tracking the phone call that Sestoso received before he was shot.

Juancho Gallarde, president of the Dumaguete Press Club, condemned the shooting, calling it “an act of cowardice, stupidity and attack on press freedom.” – Raffy Cabristante/The Freeman, Artemio Dumlao