City council reprimands broadcaster

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – The City Council of Dipolog passed a resolution on 25 September 2012 reprimanding a local AM radio station manager for allegedly accusing the incumbent mayor and her allies of “terrorism”.

Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte is approximately 961 kilometers south of Manila.

The resolution condemned RPN-dxKD station manager and news anchor Leo Cimafranca for allegedly insinuating that the city administration “can employ violence against its opponents” during a press conference of mayoralty candidate Cecilia “Cely” Jalosjos-Carreon last September 17.  Jalosjos-Carreon is running against  incumbent mayor Evelyn Uy, an ally of most of the city council members.

During the press conference, Cimafranca asked Jalosjos-Carreon what she would do “…if the other party will employ terrorism (during the election campaign period) because here in Dipolog it cannot be denied that there are many killings that have remained unsolved.”

The council also alleged that the broadcaster “was clearly making a connection between the  suppressed (sic) possibility that we would employ terrorism against the group of Cely Jalosjos-Carreon and certain cases of  killing (sic) in the city, as if implying that we somehow know about the killings in Dipolog City.”

The resolution was adopted on the motion of Councilor James P. Verduquez after he heard a sound-clip of Cimafranca speaking at the conference aired by dxAA 92.5, a local FM station. Verduquez is allied with the incumbent mayor.

In an interview with CMFR last October 29, Verduquez told CMFR that the resolution is not meant to have repercussions on Cimafranca’s job. “The resolution was passed for the purpose of expressing our sentiment on the irresponsible portrayal of the present administration in this city as a group that has the tendency of employing terrorism; nothing more, nothing less.”

However, Cimfranca told CMFR that he was “scared, considering that the whole might of the city administration is behind the resolution.” He added that it might be difficult for him to renew his station’s business permit this coming January.

In May 2013, the Philippines will hold a midterm election for the Philippine Congress and for elected officials of Philippine provinces, municipalities and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Among the cases of election-related violence in the Philippines was the 2009 Maguindanao  (Ampatuan) Massacre. Fifty-eight people were killed in that incident, including 32 journalists.