The officer-in-charge of RGMA Super Radyo in Bacolod City was shot and wounded by a deputized civilian agent of the Land Transportation Office in his hometown of Sagay City 8 a.m. yesterday.

Ferdinand "Bambi" Yngson, 46, was wounded in the left arm when the suspect, Romeo Bauden Corbo Jr., fired at him with a homemade shotgun in front of the new Sagay public market at Barangay Poblacion, Superintendent William Señoron, city police chief, said.

PO2 Joel Bancolinos, who was in the area, arrested Corbo, 39, immediately after the shooting, Señoron said. Chief Superintendent Geary Barias, chief of Task Force Usig, the special police unit created to look into the murders of activists and journalists, said the shooting may be related to the exposé of Yngson on the alleged selective method of arrests of traffic violators made by LTO personnel.

"I could say that this has something to do with the calling of Bambi as a journalists or as a mediaman," Barias, who visited Yngson at the hospital, said. But he also said they cannot establish yet if the suspect had intentionally waited for Yngson.

Yngson is reported out of danger and the suspect has been arrested so he sees a solution to the case, Barias said. "I can assure Bambi's family that justice will be served," he said.

Although there were insinuations that the shooting could have involved a personal grudge, Barias said he would give more weight to "the calling of Yngson as a journalists who made a series of commentaries on the air regarding the actuations of some LTO personnel, especially in Cadiz (City), and so this happened."

Barias said he was told that before Corbo shot Yngson, he criticized him for his attacks on the LTO.

Police provincial director, Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, had earlier cautioned Ygnson to take precautions because of his expose but maybe he had been lax in his security, said Barias. Yngson was unarmed, he also said.

The police are also looking into the angle that someone had ordered the shooting.

Dr. Vicente Ituriaga, who attended to Yngson, said the station manager was hit with a bullet that shattered into tiny pellets and also hit his chest and back, but that he was out of danger.

These pellets are smaller than mongo seeds, we did not pull them out anymore, Ituriaga said.

YNGSON'S VERSION

Yngson told the DAILY STAR he had been airing an expose on LTO corruption and of uncalled for arrests made by its personnel that drew the ire of those involved.

He said that, because of his exposé, three weeks earlier while he was driving his motorcycle in Sagay City Corbo attempted to arrest him for no reason. But when he said he would call the LTO regional director, he was able to get away.

Yngson said yesterday morning Corbo, without provocation, made his motorcycle fall on his bike causing him to fall while in front of the Sagay public market.

He said he saw Corbo pull out a homemade shotgun so he tried to take cover behind a tricycle but was hit in the arm with a bullet called a bird shot, loaded with tiny pellets. He was about 6 meters away from Corbo, he said.

On impact the bullet shatters and releases pellets - 12 of which hit his back, seven his chest and almost 100 his arm, Yngson said.

Yngson said that when he looked up after he was shot, he saw Corbo reloading his shotgun to shoot again so he ran while his driver companion boxed his assailant.

He said that, as he ran, Corbo shouted in Ilonggo "Son of a bitch, you just keep attacking the LTO!" Yngson said he was unarmed and unable to defend himself.

CONDEMNATION

RGMA network strongly condemns the shooting Yngson, RGMA chief operating officer Butch Gonzales said in a statement yesterday. "Our focus at this time is to do everything possible to ensure Bambi's well being," Gonzales he said, as he called for prayers for Yngson.

"We call on the authorities for the immediate solution of the case", Gonzales added.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, of which Yngson is a member, condemned the attack and urged authorities to "get to the bottom of this case and speedily prosecute the arrested suspect and, if any, all others who may be involved."

The organization also reiterated its call for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to issue a categorical order to end all attacks on journalists and to get the perpetrators whoever they may be.

"Only this will signal that her administration pays more than lip service to press freedom," the NUJP said.

Barias yesterday urged media to report threats against them so security measures can be taken.*CPG

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