Sanchez decries ‘raids’ on three stations in Cebu, Negros Oriental by franchise owner SIAM
The El Nuevo Bantay Radyo network suddenly went off the air yesterday after three of their transmission sites were disabled.
Several men entered the premises between 12 midnight and 1 a.m. yesterday and removed black boxes that generate the frequency for the radio transmitters.
Yody Sanchez, Busay barangay councilman, and vice president for operations of the Pafi Foundation which manages the network, said the simultaneous “raids” were an offshoot of the legal battle with the franchise owner, Sarraga Integrating and Management (SIAM), which was issued a temporary restraining order by the court against cutting off operations by Pafi when their contract ends July 31.
The AM radio station network’s transmitters are located in barangay Inayawan, Cebu City; Bogo City; and Guihulngan town in Negros Oriental.
Sanchez said he learned from technicians that the men introduced themselves as being sent by SIAM.
“They raided our transmitters simultaneously. They took our exciter, one of the vital parts of the transmitter. Once the exciter is gone, we can’t go on air,” he told Cebu Daily News.
Scenario
In dyZZ broadcasting from Guihulngan, two men entered the transmission site while two men believed to be armed kept watch from a distance.
A similar scenario happened at dyDD in barangay Inayawan.
The visitors took all three 10,000-kilowatt Omnitronix Solid State exciters, each the size of a standard DVD player.
Sanchez said the exciter is responsible for generating the carrier frequency for radio transmitters.
“The exciter is like the Central Processing Unit of a transmitter,” he said.
A replacement part would cost more than P600,000 each and would have to be shipped from the US, Sanchez said.
The PAFI Foundation is run by the family of Provincial Board (PB) Member Grecilda “Gigi” Sanchez-Zaballero.
Sanchez said he called Engr. Arleen Jimenez, SIAM vice president for technical operations, to clarify the matter.
Jimenez admitted that they took the exciters and they were only acting on orders of SIAM president Francisco Sarraga based in Cagayan de Oro City.
Violation
Last Friday, the Regional Trial Court issued a 20-temporary restraining order against SIAM, stopping it from turning over management of the network to the Cebu CFI Community Cooperative.
The 20-day stay order was enough to set back a plan for the co-op to take over the network by August 1, yesterday, when the existing contract with would have with expired.
Sanchez said the move was a clear violation of the court order, which requires the parties involved not to take any equipment, facilities and machinery.
“We are requesting the management of SIAM to respect the rule of law while the case is still going on,” he said.
He worried that 23 Bantay Radyo employees — technicians, announcers, writers — would lose their jobs.
Councilman Sanchez said they suspect CFI’s involvement in the raids but lawyer Lito Astillero, CFI spokesperson, denied any hand in it.
PB Member Zaballero said she will issue a statement on Monday after referring to her lawyer.
Lawyer Edgar Gica, one of Pafi Foundation’s legal counsel, said they may file a motion to cite SIAM in contempt of court, as well as the cooperative.
But as of yesterday, a P1 million bond required by the court from PAFI for the TRO to take effect had not yet been paid, accroindg to court staff.