Masbate reporter survives slay try

MANILA, Philippines - Motorcycle-riding gunmen shot and wounded Friday a 45-year-old tabloid reporter in Masbate, the third journalists who survived slay attempts this year. A Masbate police official said the victim, Antonio Castillo, was able to describe one of the attackers and investigators were confident they will be able to solve the crime immediately. Castillo, a reporter of Bigwasan, was cruising along the highway of Barangay Marcella in Uson town on a motorcycle around 9 a.m. when the gunmen on another motorcycle overtook him and shot him. Senior Inspector Aurora Moran, chief of the Uson town police, said Castillo - hit twice in the body - managed to speed away to escape his attackers from finishing him off. “He sustained gunshot wounds to the lower portion of the back of the body and right thigh. He was chased up to Barangay Sawang (Uson town) where he sought refuge in a house and the attackers fled…," said Moran. Castillo was taken to hospital for treatment of his wounds. Two other radio journalists, Harrison Manalac and Nilo Labares, survived gunshot wounds following attempts on their lives in May and March respectively. In the 2009 Impunity Index of the Committee to Protect Journalists launched last March, the Philippines ranked sixth worldwide among countries that failed to prosecute cases of slain journalists. According to CPJ, four journalists were killed in a shooting attack in the Philippines this year. - GMANews.TV