BROADCAST journalist Anthony Taberna said the unidentified gunmen who peppered his coffee shop with bullets early Friday morning probably meant to intimidate him after his recent critical radio commentaries.
In an interview, Taberna declined to single out any suspect for the shooting at his new Ka Tunying Cafe on Visayas Avenue, Quezon City.
But sources said Taberna was alluding to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, with whom he had a heated argument on his radio program over the senator’s 63 consultants on August 14.
“I would like to emphasize that I am not accusing anyone,” Taberna told The Standard afterward.
“He [Trillanes] reacted while I stood my bround. We are okay. He has already apologized and I accepted it. I just don’t know if his people and supporters knew about their boss saying sorry,” Taberna said.
Taberna said this would not stop him from discussing the controversy over high-priced consultants.
The broadcaster, a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo, also brushed aside suggestions that the shooting could be related to the controversy surrounding the church, after the Justice Department decided to investigate a case filed by ousted minister Isaias Samson.
“He (Samson) is my uncle. He is a first cousin of my mother. The issue here is only our blood relation. We have not communicated with one another for a long time,” he said.
“If you were to ask me, I do not support what he did in engaging the public to discuss the affairs of the church. There is a proper way to do so.”
Quezon City Police District director Chief Supt. Edgardo Tinio ruled out a business conflict as the reason behind the shooting.
“It appears intimidation is the motive,” he said.
Two unidentified gunmen onboard a taxi arrived at Taberna’s Ka Tunying Café located on Visayas Avenue at around 2 a.m., and approached the establishment’s security guard and asked him if he had a gun with him.
They then began shooting at the coffee shop, shattering the glass windows as the guard hid inside the establishment.
They boarded two motorcycles waiting in front of the shop. No one was hurt.
Police were able to recover 15 bullet shells from .45-cal. pistols at the crime scene.
The closed-circuit television cameras failed to capture the faces of the suspects, police said.
The shooting incident follows the killing of a radio anchor in Ozamis City Thursday.
Senator Francis Escudero said Friday the government has failed to deliver significant results in solving media killings and violence.
“Law enforcers and state prosecutors send a message to criminals that the culture of impunity continues by failing to address previous attacks on media workers. [This] can only motivate these offenders,” said Escudero, who condemned the most recent attacks.
He said media killings and violence would have been prevented had previous cases been solved and those responsible punished.
On Thursday, Cosme Diez Mestrado, 48, anchor of a local radio station affiliated with Radio Mindanao Network, was shot 10 times by unidentified assailants at 10 a.m. in front of a shopping center in Ozamis City, Misamis Oriental.