NUJP Denounces Another Abduction of Journalist

A journalist was reportedly abducted in Negros Oriental last week and the NUJP, along with other media groups, has accused a rebel returnee, Canlaon local executives and military officials of possible connection. The abduction took place 10 days after another reporter became a target of harassment.

BY HANNAH A. PAPASIN AND KARL G. OMBION
Bulatlat.com

BACOLOD CITY – The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) together with other media groups yesterday accused Canlaon City officials and a group of military officers for possible involvement in the reported abduction of a journalist.

Edmund Sestoso, chief of The Visayas Daily Courier bureau in Negros Oriental and a commentator of radio station dySR, was reportedly waylaid on Oct. 23 by a rebel returnee, Ronilo Cadigal, and brought to Canlaon where he received further threats.

Cadigal was also implicated in the alleged harassment of another Courier reporter, Carl Vanzales last Oct. 13.

NUJP national president Edgar Cadagat said Cadigal became controversial in Negros after coming out to testify against sugar planters and businessmen and linked them to the ambush of Canlaon Vice Mayor Jose Cardenas.

Through cunning and deceit, Cadagat said, Cadigal asked Sestoso – who is also an NUJP organizer - to go with him in the outskirts of Dumaguete City where he (the rebel returnee) said he will hold a news conference.

Upon arriving in Sibulan, Cadigal asked Sestoso to board a vehicle he was using. The journalist recalled seeing three other companions of Cadigal, all armed with high-powered firearms presumably militiamen loyal to the ruling Cardenas clan in Canlaon.

The already frightened Sestoso was taken nearly 100 kilometers away, to Canlaon in the center of Negros Island, where he was forced to stay in a lodging house reportedly owned by the city government.

Press releases

"All night they kept on telling me that I should accommodate their press releases or that I allow them to air their side on controversial issues hounding them," Sestoso said.

He wondered, however, why he had to be taken several kilometers away only to be told that. He was allowed to go home the following morning. He arrived in Dumaguete still shaken and incredulous over his experience as he related to NUJP officials what he had gone to.

In a statement, the NUJP, Cobra-Ans and Negros Media Council for Press Freedom said Cadigal and his armed companions used coercion when they took Sestoso to Canlaon. The deceit, coercion and use of high-powered firearms had all the makings of an abduction.

The NUJP also said there were indications that Canlaon local officials headed by Mayor Judith Cardenas and military officials are coddling Cadigal and his group. 

Last Oct. 13, Cadigal was in Bacolod on board a Canlaon government vehicle along with several military men. Together, they reportedly harassed Visayas Daily Courier correspondent Vanzales.

The harassment, NUJP believes, could have been in connection with reports the daily had been publishing about Cadigal.

Cadigal was a labor organizer of the militant National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) for 10 years but was expelled for some reason.

He surfaced a few months ago and identified several prominent businessmen in Canlaon - who are also in the political opposition - as conspirators in the ambush slay of Cardenas.

NUJP, meanwhile, called on all government officials and military to respect press freedom and to stop coercing, intimidating and harassing journalists. Bulatlat.com

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