Radioman wounded in attack
A RADIO anchor who is also the provincial information officer of Davao del Norte was wounded in an ambush by a riding-in-tandem gunmen in Barangay Visayan, Tagum City yesterday around 8 a.m. yesterday. Lt. Col. Ariel Acala, the Tagum City Police Station chief, identified the victim as radioman Paterno Lucero Pacquiao, alias Pat Lucero, 54, married, the chief of Davao del Norte’s Provincial Information, Communication, Knowledge and Management Office who also owns 99.9 RPFM. Pacquiao, riding a Ford EcoSport, was about to reach his house in Purok White Dove, Barangay Visayan after his morning radio program when he was attacked by a riding-intandem armed men. One of the motorcycleriding assailants fired towards the driver’s seat of Pacquiao’s vehicle. The radio commentator was hit in his upper right back. However, he was able to accelerate his car thus evading further injuries. The perpetrators, onboard a white Yamaha XTZ motorcycle, fled towards unknown direction. The government official was rushed to a hospital. Acala said they are still looking into various angles in the case as the victim could not yet pinpoint any reason for the attack. There was no threat prior to the attack, Acala said. Investigators found two fired cartridge cases and a deformed bullet, all believed to be from a caliber .45. The Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) yesterday denounced the ambush. Undersecretary Jose Joel Sy Egco, PTFoMS executive director, said he immediately instructed police operatives to provide security for Pacquiao. The PTFoMS said it presumes any form of media violence as work-related until further investigation proves otherwise.