Two employees of the Abante News Group were hurt when four masked gunmen attacked its printing plant in Parañaque City and attempted to burn it down early Monday morning, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.
The group publishes the tabloids Abante and Tonite.
The Presidential Task Force on Media Security has formed a team to help the police identify those behind the attack.
PTFoMS Executive Director Joel Egco said he had ordered Lt. Col. Eder Collantes, the Task Force Chief of Investigation, to go to the crime scene for a probe.
Egco said he also sent a letter to the National Capital Region Police Office to assist in the investigation.
In a report sent by Southern Police District spokesman Supt. Jenny Tecson, the fire struck the single-story Fortunata Building 1 at the Vitalez Compound in Barangay San Isidro.
It showed that the building is owned and occupied by Prage Management and is being used as the printing plant of the daily tabloid “Abante Una sa Balita”.
Security guard Marivic Furaganan, 44, told investigators that they were receiving delivery printing materials when a group of unidentified masked armed men and wearing helmets appeared.
She said the masked men pointed guns at them and shouted “dapa! dapa! nasaan ang baril mo?” She replied “Wala po akong baril.”
Furaganan followed the order and lay face down on the floor. She saw the attackers holding a gallon filled with gasoline and poured it into several file of newspapers inside the production area and lit it using long lighters.
Abante managing editor Fernando Jadulco called the attack “the first violent act against our group and its facilities since 1987.”
It is also believed to be the first attack of its kind on a news outfit in recent history.
Contacted by the NUJP, Jadulco said the attackers stormed the printing plant around 2 a.m. “just as we had finished printing.”
The masked men poured gasolines on the machines and printing supplies and set those on fire.
But the quick response of the Parañaque Fire Station prevented any serious damage to the facility, the NUJP said.
Metro Manila police director Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar formed a special team and deployed personnel to the plant to investigate the incident.
Jadulco said the incident would not disrupt their operations.
“We will continue to publish,” he said.
“The management and staff of Abante and Tonite condemn this dastardly attack, the first violent act against our group and its facilities since 1987. We will not be cowed by this attempt to strike fear into our reporters, editors and staff. Our commitment to hard-hitting journalism remains unshaken.”
The newspaper management thanked the Parañaque Fire Station for its immediate response.
“We also thank the Philippine National Police, led by NCRPO Chief Guillermo Eleazar, for sending his men immediately to the scene of the crime and allowing us to continue our operation uninterrupted," the management said. With MJ Blancaflor