Crisis: National

Reporter escapes kidnap try
A correspondent of tabloid Police Files Tonite was nearly abducted while waiting for a ride home in Calamba, Laguna.

According to police reports, Dick Garay tried to push him into a van on the evening of Aug. 15. But Garay resisted and managed to run away.

“I strongly feel that they were hired goons of people I have criticized in my reports,” Garay said, as quoted by The Philippine Star.

Radio anchor threatened
Hazel Gup-ay, a broadcaster of government-run Radyo ng Bayan dzRK in Tabuk, Kalinga, has reported receiving threatening messages on her cellular phone.

Gup-ay said the messages accused her of being biased in reporting the July 31 ambush of Bayan Muna provincial chairman Dr. Constancio Claver and his family.

The messages, sent through two mobile phone numbers, criticized Gup-ay for supposedly favoring the Clavers, whom the text message sender tagged as having links with the New People’s Army.

Gup-ay recalled that she received many text messages when she aired a message dismissing as an “unconvincing alibi” the statement of Kalinga deputy police director Hover Coyoy that police checkpoints failed to block the ambushers’ getaway vehicle, because he did not have the phone numbers of those manning the roadblocks. (with a report from The Philippine Star)

Suspects in 2 reporters’ slay fall
The police recently presented one of two main suspects in the May 16 killing of tabloid reporter Albert Orsolino.

Ramon Rivera, a Navotas jail guard on absence without official leave, was arrested by the police through a warrant of arrest issued by a Malabon City regional trial court, according to Northern Police District chief Leopoldo Bataoil.

Records showed Rivera had a pending homicide case with five other jail guards. They were allegedly involved in the mauling and clubbing to death of an inmate in December 2004 inside the Navotas municipal jail.

A witness in the Orsolino case said Rivera was one of the assailants in the gas station where the reporter was gunned down in the morning of May 16.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Calderon has announced the arrest of the alleged hitman in the killing of Orsolino’s cousin, photojournalist Prudencio Melendres, in Malabon City.

Roberto Lopez,  36, a plumber and a resident of Caloocan City, was arrested by the police based on information provided by witnesses in the killing.

“The murder of tabloid photographer Prudencio Melendres is the second case of high-profile murder that we were able to solve within the 10-week timetable given by President Arroyo,” Calderon said.

Melendres, a photojournalist for Tanod and Dyaryo ng Bayan tabloids, was gunned down by four unidentified men while on his way to work in Gozon Compound, Letre, Tonsuya Village, Malabon City early morning of July 31. (Based on reports by the Inquirer News Service)

Erap sues Standard Today
Former President Joseph Estrada filed on Aug. 3 a P30-million libel suit against reporter Christine Herrera, the editors of the Manila Standard Today, Joelle Marie Pelaez, and her mother, Blanquita.

In a Standard Today interview, Pelaez alleged that Estrada and his cronies used her name to launder P2.07 billion in securities, bonds, and other debt instruments in 2000.

The story was published by Standard Today in a series of articles on May 15-19.

Solon files libel case vs local journalist
Dante Fabian, a Sun.Star Pampanga reporter, was sued by Pampanga Rep. Francis Nepomu-ceno over three stories on the alleged P19-million water pipes scam.

Narciso Sula, the paper’s general manager, said Fabian was “singled out” while one of the sources of the stories, Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin, Nepomuceno’s longtime politi-cal rival, was spared from litigation.

Members of the Pampanga Press Club condemned Nepo-muceno’s filing of libel as an apparent attempt to harass a member of the press.

Nepomuceno denied using the libel suit to harass Fabian.

“If I had wanted to harass him I would not have resorted to this legal process,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “All I want from [Fabian] is fair reporting.”

The paper was not cited as a respondent.

Fabian said he had always gone out of his way to seek Nepomuceno’s side but the latter would not reply. He said his reports were based on the official letters of local village leaders who claimed they did not receive water pipes distributed in 2005 by the Department of Public Works and Highways and funded by Nepomuceno’s priority development assistance fund.

In his complaint, Nepomuceno said at least five investigation reports from the Office of the Ombudsman for Luzon, Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and the Commission on Audit’s regional office “confirmed my innocence and that the alleged anomaly that they were trying to impute to me were proved baseless.” (Based on reports by the Inquirer News Service)

CA affirms Raffy Tulfo conviction
The Court of Appeals (CA) had affirmed the conviction of Abante Tonite columnist and television broadcaster Raffy Tulfo for 14 counts of libel arising from several articles he had written nearly a decade ago about a customs officer.

Tulfo was previously convicted by Judge Priscilla Mijares of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court, sentencing him to two years, four months and one day in prison for each of the 14 counts—equivalent to 32 years and eight months—plus a fine of over P14.7 million.

In its resolution, the CA said the prosecution had proven that Tulfo’s stories were written in “reckless disregard” for the truth.

According to the decision, the complainant Carlos So, a former Bureau of Customs intelligence officer, was pictured as an extortionist, smuggler, grafter, corrupt public official, and womanizer.

Bill stops use of libel to harass media
The House of Representatives approved on final reading House Bill 77 requiring libel suits against journalists, publications, or broadcast stations be filed at the regional trial court of the province or city where the journalist, publication or broadcast station holds principal office.

The bill also requires civil actions connected with libel suits to be filed in the same court where the criminal complaint was filed.

Cebu Rep. Raul del Mar, the bill’s sponsor, said the bill will prevent individuals from using libel as a tool to harass journalists.

Just recently, two separate libel suits were set for pre-trial in Makati and Quezon City against the staff of Bandillo ng Palawan, a community news-paper based in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

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