Radio Anchor
Abducted
BY BULATLAT
Posted 6:35 p.m. March 4, 2006
A radio broadcaster in Baler town,
Aurora province (231 km north of Manila), was reportedly abducted at
around 6:20 p.m. March 3.
The National Union of Journalists of the
Philippines (NUJP) reported that Joey Estriber, 37, host of the radio
program Pag-usapan Natin (Let Us Talk About It) aired over DZJO,
was taken by unidentified men near an internet café in Baler.
Witnesses said that they saw the
Estriber resist his abductors, shouting as he was being dragged to a
maroon Besta van with tinted windows and no plate number. Witnesses saw
four men surround Estriber and throw him into the van face down, after
which the van moved south toward the central school.
The same van had been parked in the area
hours before the abduction, witnesses said.
Estriber left
behind a pair of slippers. Two text messages sent from his cellphone were
received half an hour later, saying "Huwag kayong mag-alala, ok lang
ako," (Don't worry, I'm all right.) and "Nagtatago ako."
(I am hiding.) However, those who received the two text messages from
Estriber’s cellphone doubt if he was the one who sent them.
The NUJP also
said Estriber’s active participation in Bataris, a church-based
non-government organization in Baler, could be the reason for his
abduction. In mid-February, the Philippine Army’s 48th Infantry
Battalion raided the Bataris office. At about the same time, a military
officer claimed on radio that members of non-government organizations like
Bataris are in the military's "order of battle."
Estriber was
speaker at a recent forum where four soldiers reportedly tried to force
their way in.
Family members have made the rounds of
radio and police stations but they were unable to gather more information
about Estriber’s abduction. Bulatlat with reports from Gitnang Luson
News Service
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