Nearly two years after the Maguindanao massacre in which 32 journalists were murdered, the Catholic-run radio station dzVT in Luzon has been hit with an arson attack that destroyed 10 million pesos (about 230 thousand USD) worth of transmission equipment.
The police believe the fire started in the dead of night and found a petrol can at the scene but the perpetrators remain at large. This incident is the most recent in a chain of attacks targeted toward the media. In early October, Johnson Pascual, editor of Prime News newspaper and Datu Roy Bagtikan Gallego, a radio DJ, were both shot and killed in separate incidents. It is suspected that media workers have been targeted in retaliation for public commentaries critical of local politicians. President Aquino has yet to follow through with his promised protection for media workers.