Crisis: National

Police tries to arrest reporter, fails
AN ARREST warrant for a Palace reporter, one of the 43 journalists sued by the husband of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Jose Miguel Arroyo, was served by at least six policemen right inside the Malacañang Palace compound last  Nov. 13.

Five Manila Police District officers entered the press working area of Malacañang  and sought Mia Gonzalez, reporter of a national business daily, the BusinessMirror, shortly before 11 a.m. Gonzalez was, however, not arrested because she was on leave.

Asked why they were looking for her, the policemen said their purpose was “confidential.” One reporter then checked the area’s logbook and found out that the police were going to serve an arrest warrant.

Gonzalez, who has been covering the presidential beat since the Ramos administration, told PJR Reports no notice about the court order was received by herself, her lawyer or even the staff of Newsbreak magazine, the publication to which she is a contributor.

“We’re surprised that an arrest warrant was about to be served on Mia Gonzalez, our contributor. We, including our counsel, have not received a copy of the resolution from the court. We deplore the short cut in the legal process, a clear abuse of power,” Marites Vitug, editor in chief of Newsbreak, said in a statement.

Mr. Arroyo filed the complaint against Gonzalez for her article, “Will GMA now change?” published in 2004 in Newsbreak magazine.

She used the pen name “Concepcion Paez” for the story but admitted authorship of the story in the counteraffidavit she submitted to court.

Gonzalez, an award-winning literary writer, said her lawyer has yet to receive a copy of the resolution on her libel case. She said it was the first time she was sued for libel.

The attempt to arrest Gonzalez came a day after Malaya columnist and chief of reporters Ellen Tordesillas, who is also among the 43 journalists charged with libel by Mr. Arroyo, received an e-mailed death threat for her criticism of the President.

Gonzalez said she will continue covering the pre-sidential beat. (with reports from Inquirer News Service)

Newspaper columnist receives death threat
A newspaper columnist who has been charged with libel by the husband of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo received a death threat through e-mail on Nov. 12.

Ellen Tordesillas, columnist and chief of reporters of the daily newspaper Malaya, found the threatening message on her e-mail at around 3 p.m., shortly after sending her column to the paper. The message, which came from the e-mail address danie11aperez80@yahoo.com, was time-stamped 7:21 a.m. of the same day.

The letter said: “What kind of death do you prefer? To die of cancer? To die of accident? To die of ambush? To die of heart attack due to your libel suit? Masyado kang matapang ha? Puro banat mo sa Pangulo dahil hindi ka napartehan ng gracia kahit kaunti. Your days are numbered.”

Tordesillas, a cancer survi-vor, said she has no idea who sent the mail but she has already reported the incident to the National Bureau of Investi-gation.

Tordesillas is one of 43 journalists sued for libel by presidential spouse Jose Miguel Arroyo.  She has posted a bail bond of P10,500 on Oct. 16 after a Manila court issued a warrant of arrest.

Arroyo filed the libel com-plaint against Tordesillas, Mala-ya publisher Amado Macasaet, other members of the news-paper staff and former senator Francisco Tatad over a report that appeared on May 19, 2004 that said the president’s husband acted as her “chief cheating operator” in the presidential elections.

Arrest warrants served on Malaya publisher, staff
Acting on libel suits filed by Jose Miguel Arroyo, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s husband, a local court recently issued warrants of arrest against a publisher and several of the newspaper’s staff members as well as a former senator.

In a resolution released on Oct. 16, Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr. of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 26 ordered the arrest of Malaya publisher Amado Macasaet; editors Enrique Romualdez, Joy de los Reyes, Ma. Teresa Molina, and Minnie Advincula; reporters Ellen Tordesillas, JP Lopez, and Regina Bengco; and former senator Francisco Tatad whose remarks were quoted in the story.

A bail of P10,000 for each of the accused was paid, according to Tordesillas, who was reinsta-ted as a respondent after being dropped earlier in the case. The respondents posted bail the same day the warrants were issued.

Malaya’s story alleged that First Gentleman Arroyo, with the help of military personnel and government officials, bought certificates of canvass throughout the country, especially in Mindanao. In his libel complaint, Arroyo denied the allegation and insisted that he was in Manila at the time of the elections.

In recent months, Arroyo had filed at least 10 libel suits against 43 journalists. Philippine media organizations deplored the filing of the cases, saying this was aimed at creating a chilling effect on the press.

Arroyo is seeking a total of P70 million in moral damages from the libel suits.

More than 600 journalists and 30 local and foreign media organizations, including the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, have supported a joint petition drafted by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines calling for the decriminalization of libel in the country. (With reports from gmanews.tv)

Mother of slain journalists hits deception
Police allegedly deceived an elderly mother into signing documents that said the New People’s Army (NPA) killed Maricel and George Vigo, the two journalists and peace advocates who were murdered last June in Kidapawan City, South Cotobato.

According to a report by news website davaotoday.com, the police summoned Norma Alave, mother of Maricel, to the police station and asked her to sign some documents. She was told that the papers were meant to establish that she was Maricel’s mother and that George was her son-in-law. “So I signed the documents,” Alave said, even though she could not read what was written on them.

It was only later that her son, Gregorio Alave, found out that the documents signed by his mother had included a paragraph that identified the Vigo couple’s killer as someone named Dionisio Madanguit.

“I retracted the statement because I never knew that man,” Mrs. Alave said.

Earlier reports on the case had police and military sources pointing to Jonever Madanguit (alias Dionisio), a former member of the NPA now under the custody of the military, as the killer.

The Kidapawan City Prosecu-tion Office, however, cleared Madanguit for lack of evidence.

In  the fact-finding investiga-tion Duyog sa Panaw, Church leaders described the death of the Vigos as part of a “patterned and systematic persecution of groups and individuals critical of the government.”

Maricel’s younger brother Gregorio said the couple had been telling him of death threats that they have received. Both George and Maricel had hosted separate radio programs in Kidapawan City. They were also members of several human rights groups.

George was reportedly an active member of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and had been known to be critical of some local politicians. Maricel hosted the radio program Tingog sa Kabatan-onan. (Germelina Lacorte, davaotoday.com)

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