Grenade attack on newspaper columnist’s home, no one hurt

Reporters Without Borders is concerned for the safety of Ilocos Times columnist Steve Barriero following a 31 July grenade explosion outside his home near Laoag City in Ilocos Norte province, 400 km north of Manila, in which no one was hurt. Barriero has said he suspects the grenade attack was carried out at the behest of Marynette Gamboa, the mayor of the nearby town of Dingras, who was the subject of a column he wrote on 25 May referring to her as a "fugitive" from US justice. "This murder attempt is evidence of the danger Barriero is still running", Reporters Without Borders said. "The authorities must investigate this attack with the aim of identifying and arresting those who ordered it. The possible implication of local officials must not be allowed to obstruct the investigation." In his 25 May column for the Ilocos Times, a regional weekly, Barriero said Gamboa was wanted by the police in Ventura County, California, for possession of counterfeit US dollars and checks. He quoted reports in the Los Angeles Times to support his claim. Gamboa subsequently denied breaking any US law or being a fugitive in an interview published in the Ilocos Times on 29 June. After the grenade attack, she told the Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility that she suspected that Barriero had himself staged it in order to be able to accuse her. An Ilocos Times columnist for the past six years, Barriero hired a bodyguard a month ago after a local official warned him he might be targeted.