CRiSiS: National

Arroyo lawyer to again seek dismissal of class action suit
THE LAWYER of presidential spouse Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo said he will file a second motion to dismiss a class action suit filed by several media groups and individual journalists against Arroyo.
In a hearing last July 26, Arroyo’s lawyer, Ruy Rondain, said he will file the motion “for failure of the plaintiffs to comply with modes of discovery.” The current proceedings are being heard in line with Rondain’s earlier motion to dismiss, arguing that the plaintiffs have no cause of action in the complaint since not all of them were sued by Arroyo.
The class action suit was filed by the journalists and media groups on the grounds that Arroyo’s libel suits against members of media constituted an abuse of his right to litigate and an attack on press freedom. Arroyo has filed 11 libel suits against 46 journalists since 2004.
Signed by 40 journalists and three organizations, including the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, the class suit was filed December 28 of last year.

Broadcaster shot by gov’t official
A RADIO station manager of a local broadcasting company was shot by a government official on July 25 in Sagay City, Negros Occidental.
Ferdinand “Bambi” Yngson, manager of GMA Network’s Super Radyo dySB in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, and a member of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), was on his bicycle when he was shot in front of the Sagay public market by a man with a homemade shotgun. Yngson’s wife was with him when he was shot.
The broadcaster was shot in the left arm and was also wounded on his chest and back and was declared out of danger by doctors.
The suspect, Romeo Bauden Corbo Jr., was arrested while allegedly attempting to escape.  Corbo is a deputy officer of the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
Yngson, 46, was said to have been critical of alleged corruption at the LTO as well as of allegedly baseless arrests by agency personnel.
Yngson hosts a noon program, Ratsada. While personal animosity has not been ruled out as a motive for the shooting, Yngson said that during a confrontation, Corbo swore at him and shouted in the local language, “You just keep attacking the LTO!”
Chief Supt. Geary Barias, chief of the Philippine National Police’s Task Force Usig, a body created to probe extrajudicial killings in the country, said that frustrated murder and illegal possession of firearms charges are being prepared against Corbo.
The NUJP condemned the attack and urged the authorities to immediately solve the case.

Photographer mauled
A PHOTOGRAPHER for a daily community newspaper was mauled by a politician’s supporters while covering the retrieval of ballot boxes in Bogo City, Cebu.
Alex Badayos, of Sun.Star Cebu, along with another photojournalist from another local daily, was trying to take photos of a man who had carted away two boxes of election returns to the Bogo City Hall’s second floor when they were blocked by around 300 supporters of mayor-elect Celestino Martinez Jr. and Bogo Traffic Management Office personnel.
Martinez’s supporters then seized Badayos’s camera and his bag containing a laptop computer. When he introduced himself as a Sun.Star reporter, the throng began beating him up.  He suffered bruises from the kicks and punches.
Martinez had apologized for the assault and formed a task force to investigate the incident.
The mayor had refused to turn over to the police and the officials of the Commission on Elections the ballot boxes for the fourth-district congressional elections.
In a statement, Sun.Star’s editor in chief said that the assault “was…a sad reflection of the way we conduct our politics and elections.”  The Cebu Federation of Beat Journalists, a reporters’ organization in the province, also condemned the attack and urged witnesses to testify.

Gonzalez: Media may be wiretapped
JUSTICE SECRETARY Raul Gonzalez said journalists may be wiretapped on mere suspicion of involvement in terrorism under the Human Security Act (HSA).
“Nobody is immune to the possibility of wiretapping, but (having one’s phone wiretapped) must be predicated on the fact that he is a suspect,” Gonzalez said.
He, however, stressed that approval by the Court of Appeals was needed before anyone could be bugged.
HSA or Republic Act 9372  was signed into law last March 6 in the presence not only of the leaders of Congress and the bill’s sponsors but also of diplomats from 17 countries, including the United States and Australia.
Martin Scheinin, United Nations Special Rapporteur for human rights and counter-terrorism, said that “many provisions of the Human Security Act are not in accordance with international human rights standards.” He then urged the Philippine government to amend, if not repeal, the law.
Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño has asked President Arroyo to suspend indefinitely the law’s implementation while opposition Sen. Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal is seeking the repeal of what she described as “the most dangerous piece of legislation passed by the Philippine Congress,” Inquirer.net reported.
Meanwhile, 20 petitions have been filed by various organi-zations and individuals before the Supreme Court (SC) questioning the constitutionality of the anti-terror law.
The petitions are asking for a temporary restraining order on its implementation.
The SC has ordered President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and other respondents to comment on the petition.

Radio commentator dies after being shot
A RADIO broadcaster died while undergoing treatment after he was shot by unidentified gunmen in Mandaue City, Cebu.
Radio station dyRB commentator/technician Geruncio “Oscar” Mondejar, 34, was waiting for a ride to the radio station along Jagobiao Highway in Mandaue City at around 3 a.m. last June 30 when a motorcycle with two men onboard stopped in front of him.
One of the riders got off and shot Mondejar twice.  The second shot wounded him in the lower hip. Mondejar was taken to a hospital but succumbed to severe blood loss at around 7:30 a.m.
The victim’s sister, Jenelin Mondejar, said that her brother may have been shot because of their father’s quarrel with a village captain that led to the siblings’ filing of physical injuries charges at the Office of the Ombudsman.
The police are looking into the possible motives and are not dropping the angle that the killing could be work-related.
Mondejar co-hosted the radio program, Banat Bisaya Morning Edition and also gave commentaries on Ang Pang-uma Karon, an agricultural broadcast.
Mondejar’s murder occurred almost two weeks after President Arroyo ordered the creation of a special prosecution team to handle cases of media killings. Mondejar is the fifth journalist/media practitioner killed for this year.

Conviction of journalist’s killer lowered to homicide
THE COURT of Appeals (CA) has downgraded to homicide the conviction for murder of the killer of dzMM senior editor Alberto Berbon in December 1996, citing the prosecution’s failure to provide evidence for the “abuse of superior strength,” necessary for a murder conviction.
Jose “Danny” Espineli was convicted of murder by a regional trial court in 1999. He was sentenced to life imprisonment which was reduced to 10 to 17 years.  He was, however, still ordered to pay P200,000 in damages to Berbon’s family.
The CA, which made its decision on June 29, said that none of the witnesses presented by the prosecution saw the killing.
A witness had overheard Espineli telling a co-accused, “Ayaw ko nang abutin ng bukas ‘yang si Berbon (I want Berbon dead by tomorrow),” before boarding a red car, armed with a .45-cal. pistol.
The court also considered Espineli’s August 1998 escape from detention—while the case was ongoing—as proof of guilt.  He was rearrested in February 1999.
On Dec. 15, 1996, four men on board a red Ford Escort car shot at Berbon while he was drinking with friends right outside his home in Imus, Cavite.  Berbon, 45, died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds while his wife, Sabina, was wounded.
Several angles were considered as possible motive for the murder: the formation of the Samahan ng mga Mamamahayag sa Kabite (Journalists’ Association of Cavite) which Berbon headed and which angered politicians and some reporters, and a near-shooting incident between Berbon and an unidentified man in a restaurant.
The police also said the killing could have been caused by a dispute over the leadership of a local drivers’ association or by a drug syndicate.
But according to Vic Lima, dzMM deskman, Berbon did not cover or report on Cavite and he did not join the police in anti-drug operations. Radio station dzMM is owned by broadcast network giant ABS-CBN.
Berbon was also known for his crusade against a person suspected to have accidentally shot dead a jeepney passenger. The suspect was out on bail when Berbon was murdered.

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