Crisis: National
FFFJ: A welcome victory but incomplete
Today’s CONVICTION of Marlene Esperat’s killers is a welcome, though incomplete, victory for press freedom.
After nine grueling months, the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists Inc. (FFFJ) is more than happy that the trial had concluded with a sentence of life imprisonment for hit men Gerry Cabagay, Randy Grecia, and Estanislao Bismanos, who killed Marlene Esperat in cold blood while she was taking supper with her children on March 24, 2005.
However, this victory remains incomplete until the identified masterminds, Department of Agriculture Region XII finance officer Osmeña Montañer and accountant Estrella Sabay, are likewise tried for murder.
The victory is also incomplete because this is only the second successful conviction among the 28 cases of journalists slain in the line of duty during the Arroyo administration.
Despite the constitutionally protected freedom of the press, the recent spate of journalists’ killings has unfortunately earned the country the reputation of being “the most dangerous place for journalists” in international media circles.
The pursuit of justice in the case of Marlene Esperat would not have been possible without the support of concerned citizens and media organizations, both local and international. FFFJ hopes that today’s victory will set the ball rolling for other cases of slain journalists even as it signals media’s determination to pursue the cases until both assassins and masterminds are behind bars.
Currently pending in Manila courts are cases involving the murder of publisher-editor Philip Agustin and radio journalist Roger Mariano. Meanwhile, some 23 cases have yet to be filed even as police have failed to come up with the necessary evidence for the prosecution.
3 convicted for Esperat murder
It was a welcome victory for the Philippine press on Oct. 6, when a Cebu City court convicted three men for the murder of journalist Marlene Esperat after a 10-month trial.
At the same time, prosecutors filed a motion to reinstate the murder cases against two high-ranking government officials believed to be the masterminds of the slaying.
Judge Eric Menchavez of Cebu City Regional Trial Court Branch 21 convicted Gerry Cabagay, Randy Grecia, and Estanislao Bismanos of murder charges, and sentenced the killers to reclusion perpetua or a maximum imprisonment of 40 years.
The court also ordered the three accused to pay the heirs of Esperat P75,000 in civil damages, P75,000 in moral damages, and P25,000 in exemplary damages.
Ex-sergeant Rowie Barua, a suspect-turned-state witness and the self-confessed henchman who hired Cabagay, Grecia, and Bismanos to waylay Esperat on March 24, 2005, was acquitted for lack of evidence.
Nena Santos, the Esperat family’s legal counsel, said they did not pursue the case against Barua in exchange for the latter’s testimonies against the suspected masterminds, Osmeña Montañer, finance officer of the Department of Agriculture Region XII, and accountant Estrella Sabay. Barua, a former military intelligence officer, was also Sabay’s bodyguard.
After the decision was read, Santos and the state prosecutors, upon the recommendation of the Department of Justice, filed a motion to reinstate the murder charges against Montañer and Sabay on the strength of Barua’s testimonies. An inquiry was set on Oct. 10 to hear the motion.
Montañer and Sabay were earlier dismissed from the murder charges by a Tacurong City court. The dismissal prompted the family and the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, Inc. (FFFJ) to write the Supreme Court to request the case’s transfer to the more neutral, relatively safer Cebu City.
The judgment was the third conviction in cases involving the murder of journalists in Cebu City. Earlier, Guillermo Wapile, the gunman of Pagadian journalist Edgar Damalerio, was convicted on Nov. 29, 2005. On Jan. 19, Cebu photojournalist Allan Dizon’s killer, Edgar Belandres, was convicted. Dizon’s murder, though, is not work-related.
The verdict on Cabayag and his two companions brought to four the number of convictions among the 60 slain journalists’ cases since 1986. None of the cases though, was satisfactorily solved because none of the masterminds were convicted.
At the press conference held after the promulgation, Rynche Arcones, one of Esperat’s daughters, thanked media organizations for supporting the case of her mother. Rynche, and her elder sister, Janice, broke into tears upon hearing the verdict.
Jose Pavia, FFFJ representative and Philippine Press Institute executive director, who was present during the promulgation, noted however that the real victory will be when the real masterminds are behind bars.
Pampanga media hit ‘harassment’ by solon
At least five media organizations in Central Luzon have passed a resolution “condemning in strongest possible terms the harassment” by Rep. Francis Nepomuceno when he filed libel charges against reporter Dante Fabian of Sun.Star Pampanga.
In their resolution, the media groups cited the “chilling effect the act of Nepomuceno imposes on all media practitioners.”
Ashley Manabat, former president of the Pampanga Press Club (PPC) identified those who passed the resolution as the PPC, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Central Luzon Media Association, National Press Club and Society of Pampanga Columnists.
Nepomuceno filed the P30-million libel case with Fabian as the lone respondent. In a libel case, normally charged are the editor, publisher, the author of the alleged libelous article, and other editorial staff members of the newspaper that published it.
The purported libelous story was about the procurement of distribution of pipes and water pumps in the barangays in the province’s first congressional district.
The resolution stated that Fabian wrote about the alleged irregularities in the procurement and distribution of the water pumps and pipes purchased from the pork barrel funds of the congressman.
According to the press groups, Fabian tried but failed to get the reactions of Nepomuceno about the story.
Pampanga-based media groups said the fact that Fabian alone was charged in the libel case showed that it was a “clear case of harassment.”
They added that the “unusual circumstance” in the case of Fabian “cannot but be construed to have been designed to discourage, if not intimidate, other members of the local media from writing about the pipes and water pumps issue.” (Based on reports by The Manila Times)
Mayor in Aklan broadcaster’s slay missing
The town mayor charged with the killing of Aklan broadcaster Herson Hinolan has gone missing, following the upgrading of the case from homicide to murder.
Police said they could not serve a warrant of arrest for Lezo Mayor Alfredo Arceno as they have been unable to locate him. Arceno, whom Hinolan had attacked in some of his commentaries, used to be a military sergeant.
The arrest warrant was issued on Sept. 7 by Aklan Regional Trial Court Branch 7.
On Nov. 13, 2004, Hinolan was shot seven times in different parts of his body by a gunman outside a carnival in Kalibo, Aklan.
Hinolan was a commentator and station manager working for Kalibo town radio station dyIN. Aside from criticizing Arceno, Hinolan had exposed illegal gambling activities in the province.
Hinolan was the 17th journalist killed in the line of duty during the Arroyo administration, according to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. He was also the second broadcaster killed in Aklan in three years.
Cavite publisher jailed
A publisher of a provincial paper was arrested and jailed on Oct. 2 for a libel case filed by Cavite Gov. Erineo Maliksi.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)-Laguna chapter reported that Rudy Apollo, 57, columnist and publisher of two local papers Asian Star Journal and Asian Star Balita, was arrested at 9:30 a.m. at his printing press in Barangay Santa Fe, Imus, Cavite.
He was taken to the Trece Martirez city jail where he is now detained. He has yet to file a bail bond of P10,000.
The libel complaint stemmed from a series of articles that appeared in Apollo’s two papers regarding the alleged “ghost” purchase of rice last year worth millions of pesos and the supposed “ghost” employees at the capitol.
Judge Norberto Quisumbing Jr. of Branch 21 of the Imus regional trial court also ordered the arrest of Apolo’s children, Reynaldo and Michelle, and Ed Lara Cuvinar, staff member of the Asian Star Journal and Asian Star Balita.
Quisumbing set the bail for each respondent at P10, 000.
Three other local papers have been sued in February by Maliksi for libel: Katapat, Peryodiko, and Asianstar Weekly.
In his complaint where he is demanding P50 million in damages, Maliksi claimed the three tabloids were responsible for the “malicious and systematic campaign to vilify him and the provincial government.”
“In the middle of 2004, these tabloids started publishing articles whose sole objective was to destroy my reputation,” Maliksi said in a released statement. “There is no single issue where they fail to portray me as a corrupt public official who has no regard for the welfare of Caviteños.”
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