ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines - Lemuel Fernandez, editor-publisher of Iloilo City-based newspaper, The Daily Guardian, survived an attack against him last Wednesday night. Fernandez suffered a head wound after a yet-unknown assailant hit him from behind as he was able to enter his car outside the Viosils Arcade along M.H. del Pilar Street in Molo district. According to The Daily Guardian's executive editor Francis Allan Angelo, the incident happened at 9:30 p.m. when he and Fernandez were leaving the editorial office after putting to bed the newspaper's Thursday issue. Angelo was already inside his own car when he heard Fernandez yelling for help. He immediately got out of his car rushed to assist Fernandez whom he took to St. Paul's Hospital for medical treatment. Angelo cannot pinpoint the angle behind the attack, but said it could be related to an issue the newspaper may have reported in the past.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has ordered an in-depth investigation on the attack on Fernandez and said the Police Regional Office (PRO-6) will be creating a special task force to investigate the incident. ''Task Force Guardian will be formed to determine possible motives and identify and arrest the assailant of Lemuel Fernandez,'' said C/Supt. Cipriano Querol Jr. The report issued by the police said Fernandez ''was mauled by at least two persons outside his office in Barangay Taal, Molo, Iloilo City at around 10 p.m. He sustained a lacerated wound in the right portion of his head, and is still confined at St. Paul's Hospital.'' Querol said, ''The attack against Fernandez could be work-related as his newspaper tackles very sensitive issues and it is not remote that they have aggrieved some people.'' He said investigators will go through the ''big issues being reported by The Daily Guardians for these reports may provide leads in the probe.
He added that at least two uniformed personnel will be provided Fernandez to temporarily serve as his security escorts. The attack against The Daily Guardian publisher-editor happened a few days after hard-hitting radio anchor Gerry Ortega was shot dead in Palawan. The gunman was arrested after the incident, with a former provincial administrator included in the charge sheet. (With a report by Aaron B. Recuenco)
