A radio broadcaster and publisher-editor of a local daily in Iloilo City sustained a head injury after a still-unidentified assailant attacked him in front of their office Wednesday night. In a release, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said Lemuel Fernandez, publisher-editor of the Iloilo-based Western Visayas Daily Guardian and host of the newspaper’s weekly radio program “The Guardian On Air", had just finished editing Thursday’s issue of the newspaper when the incident happened. The NUJP said Fernandez and the newspaper’s managing editor Francis Allan Angelo were about to board their vehicles when the assailant hit Fernandez on the head with an unspecified weapon, just in front of their office in Iloilo City’s Molo District, at around 9:30 pm. Angelo said he rushed to Fernandez’s side after hearing him scream for help, and saw him holding the back of his head, which was already bloodied. Fernandez was brought to the Iloilo St. Paul’s Hospital for treatment.
He sustained a deep cut on the head, the NUJP said. The assailant, wearing short pants and a white shirt, immediately fled, said Fernandez. The local NUJP chapter condemned the attack, and called on the Philippine National Police to thoroughly investigate the incident. “The failure on the part of concerned authorities to take appropriate action on the matter may cause a chilling effect to other media colleagues who are regarded as defenders of press freedom," NUJP-Iloilo said in a statement. The group also called on members of the media to be constantly on guard and to prioritize their personal safety. The attack on Fernandez came just two days after Palawan civic leader and radio broadcaster Dr. Gerardo “Gerry" Ortega was shot dead in Puerto Princesa City on Monday morning — the 142nd journalist killed since 1986, according to the NUJP. (See: Palawan broadcaster shot dead, gunman caught)—Jerrie M. Abella/JV
