Publisher lodges complaint vs local government employee
CMFR/PHILIPPINES – A publisher-editor and his driver-messenger in Malolos City claimed they were manhandled by local government employees in two separate incidents in January 2013. Malolos City is the capital of Bulacan province, and is approximately 32 kilometers north of Manila.
MetroNEWS publisher-editor  Orlando Mauricio filed charges of grave coercion against a certain Jay Lopez, who allegedly manhandled him during an open bidding for the construction of a P350-million city hall building last January 2 at the Malolos City Sports Complex. Mauricio also writes for the newspaper Manila Standard TODAY.
Lopez,  the alleged driver of City Budget Officer Delfin Natividad, was allegedly irked when Mauricio went to the bidding area and started taking notes. The Malolos Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) had implemented for the first time a color-coding scheme to identify those attending the public bidding. According to the coding scheme, members of the press were supposed to stay in the topmost row of the bleacher section. But since he could not hear what was being discussed at the “ground level” where the bidding was taking place, Mauricio said he decided to go there and take notes.
“While I was taking down notes, I was surprised by Jay Lopez who (grabbed) my left arm and shoved me out of the (area) and bodily escorted me away from where I wanted to get my information,” read Mauricio’s complaint affidavit dated 3 January 2013.
Before the alleged manhandling, Mauricio said  Lopez had approached him and his colleague who were talking with the head of the BAC and told them to stay in their designated area.
A few days after, last 8 January 2013, Mauricio’s messenger Sherwin Layug was allegedly detained in the City Administrator’s Office for distributing copies of MetroNEWS. Layug allegedly found the chance to escape from detention after another city  employee, a Rex Palumbarit,  left the office.
In his sworn statement to the National Bureau of Investigation, Layug quoted  Palumbarit as saying, “Itigil mo yan pamimigay at kami ang napapagalitan sa ginagawa mo. Hindi ka makakalabas dito pag tinuloy mo ang ginagawa mo. (Stop distributing your paper. We’re the one who are scolded for it. You won’t be able to leave if you continue.)” Palumbarit also confiscated copies of MetroNEWS.
Prior to the two incidents, Mauricio had been writing about the supposed irregularity in the bidding process for the P350-million construction project. The City Government of Malolos Employees Association has asked a local court to stop the January 2 bidding for the project. Mauricio said that despite the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) last 28 December 2012, the city government pushed through with the bidding as, they said, they had not received a copy of the order.
In a 10 January 2013 phone interview with Malolos City mayor Christian Natividad, CMFR was told that an investigation into the alleged harassment of Mauricio is being conducted. “We are reviewing footage from six cameras used to monitor the bidding process last January 2,” Natividad said in Filipino.
Natividad said Jay Lopez was designated as a marshal to maintain order during the bidding.  Based on an initial review of the tapes, Natividad said they had not found any footage indicating that Lopez had manhandled Mauricio.
Asked about the supposed detention, Natividad said the city administrator’s office employee only told Layug to “magpaalam ka kay CA kung gusto mong mamigay sa loob ng mga opisina (Ask the City Administrator for permission if you want to distribute copies in the offices)” as it was still office hours.
Natividad added that his administration had no problems with criticisms from the press. “Okay lang po kaming ma-criticize,” he said.
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