Newspaper reporter sues radio reporter for libel, cyber-bullying

CMFR/Philippines – A radio anchor in Malolos City, Bulacan province, will be arraigned on 22 July 2014, after a newspaper correspondent filed a libel charge against him on 17 January 2014.

Malolos is approximately 40 kilometers north of Metro Manila.

Carmela Reyes-Estrope, owner and editor-in-chief of NEWS CORE weekly in Bulacan, and a correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, filed the suit. She alleged that Efren Alcantara, dzXL radio reporter and editor of Diyaryo Bulacan, threatened and bullied her online using Diyaryo Bulacan’s social media account on 10 January 2014.

The Malolos City Prosecutors’ Office found probable cause for a libel suit against Alcantara on 24 April 2014 and ordered his arrest and set a P10,000 bail (approximately USD230) for his temporary liberty.

Branch 14 of the Bulacan Regional Trial Court set Alcantara’s arraignment on 22 July 2014.

The Malolos City Prosecutors’ decision agreed with Estrope that the rift between her and Alcantara on the issue of using the name Bulacan Press Club is a possible motive for Alcantara to commit libel against Estrope.

According to the testimony of Estrope’s witness, Alcantara could not accept defeat when he lost his bid to become president of the Bulacan Press Club in 2013, so he created a breakaway group using the same name and then registered it with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CMFR called Alcantara to get his side of the story but he referred CMFR to the court and to Estrope.

Libel is still a criminal offense in the Philippines despite calls for its decriminalization. In October 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Committee urged the Philippine government to review its old libel law which it described as “excessive.” CMFR and journalists’ groups have been urging the decriminalization of libel for nearly two decades.