Local journalist harassed, threatened after exposing governor’s anomalies
A correspondent based in Batangas, south of Manila, has been living in danger for more than three weeks now after her articles exposing corruption in the province angered Governor Armando Sanchez.
Mei Magsino-Lubis, a correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer got a call from a police source last 8 July 2005 advising her to get out of Batangas as two prisoners from the provincial jail were “released” with orders to kill her. According to her source, it was no less than the warden, Lutgardo Natanauan, brother in law of Sanchez, who allegedly allowed their escape. Since then, Lubis had been in hiding, fearing that she might be added to the list of murdered journalists in the Philippines.
She was also informed that Sanchez gave money to some policemen to get her dead or alive.
Lubis said a car had been staking out her home for several days prior to the warning phone call. She suspected that the men inside the car were watching her closely upon Sanchez’s orders.
Lubis claimed that Sanchez was after her because of the articles she wrote on the irregularities in his projects, particularly the 350-million peso (US$ 6.3 million) computerization project of the provincial government published in the Inquirer on July 5. Other exposés in the paper also alleged that the governor led the illegal gambling operations in Batangas and that he ordered the killing of provincial ombudsman Guillermo Gamo on May 30. Gamo had been investigating Sanchez-initiated provincial projects prior to his death. She was the only journalist in Batangas who had written about these alleged anomalies.
Last July 4, Sanchez invited Lubis to a function in the capitol. Taking this opportunity to get his side of the story, Lubis asked him about his involvement in the computerization project. Instead of an answer, however, Lubis claimed that Sanchez started shouting curses at her and said he was being maligned in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
After the incident, Lubis’ friend told her that Sanchez was quoted in a press conference as saying: “I want to twist Lubis’ neck!”
The following day, Sanchez filed an oral defamation case against Lubis at the Batangas City Regional Trial Court. Sanchez accused Lubis of being disrespectful to him during an interview held on July 4.
Denying Sanchez’ allegations, Lubis claimed it was the governor who hurled verbal attacks at her.
“Sanchez was already shouting at me, despite my low voice telling him to please don’t say those words to me…I expected to be treated like an invited guest, and not treated as harshly as that,” Lubis said.
The case was immediately brought to court without conducting investigation beforehand or giving Lubis the chance to file her counter affidavit.
Lubis told the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ) that the case was meant to harass her or to prevent her from writing stories about the governor’s questionable projects.
Meanwhile, 15 municipal mayors in Batangas had issued a persona non grata declaration against Lubis, whose acts they said were unbecoming of a journalist. According to provincial sources, each of those who signed the declaration reportedly got projects worth one million pesos (USD 17,857).
On July 12, an arrest warrant was issued for Lubis, but the warrant has not been served. The arraignment has been set for August 15.
But Sanchez has not been questioned until now. the jueteng czar hagedorn made a self-imposed deadline last sept 15 to eradicate juetend but until now, nothing has happened.