Reporter files administrative case against police chief

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – A correspondent of the Manila-based Pilipino Star Ngayon (Filipino Star Today) in Olongapo City filed an administrative case against the city police chief last 23 April 2012.

Olongapo City is the capital of Zambales, a province approximately 79 kilometers west of Manila.

Reporter Mahatma Randy Datu accused Olongapo Police Director Senior Superintendent Christopher Tambungan of grave threats, coercion and oral defamation before the Office of the Ombudsman. Datu said six other residents of Olongapo City filed separate administrative complaints against the police chief last 23 April 2012.

The administrative case was filed 20 days after Tambungan allegedly harassed Datu who was covering a hostage-taking incident in Bajac, Olongapo City last 3 April 2012. (See related story here http://www.cmfr-phil.org/2012/04/13/reporter-decries-alleged-police-harassment/)

Datu and other reporters were allegedly called on Tambungan’s orders to cover the hostage-taking. While listening to the SWAT’s rescue plan, Tambungan allegedly questioned Datu’s presence and pushed him out of the compound. Datu claimed that fellow reporters and some residents saw the incident.

In his affidavit-complaint dated 16 April 2012, Datu said that aside from physical harassment, Tambungan also violated his rights as a member of the media by preventing him from covering the hostage-taking.

Datu filed a separate criminal case against Tambungan at the Olongapo City Prosecution Office.

In a phone interview with CMFR, Tambungan denied harassing the Pilipino Star Ngayon reporter and said he asked the journalists to leave the compound because they were upsetting the hostage-taker. He alleged that Datu and other reporters went beyond the area allotted by the local police for the press and started taking photos, alarming the hostage- taker.

Tambungan added that he only asked Julie Sionzon of GMA-7 to cover the event as the hostage- taker said he felt more at ease speaking with a woman reporter. “I was surprised that other reporters were there,” the police chief said in Filipino.

Tambungan said he wrote Pilipino Star Ngayon president, Miguel Belmonte, explaining his side but has not received any reply. According to Tambungan, Datu and another Pilipino Star Ngayon reporter, Alex Galang, have been writing “negative” articles about him. He alleged that the negative reports started when local police caught Datu and Galang promoting illegal cock-fighting in a barangay (village) in Olongapo City last 30 December 2011.

Datu refuted the allegation, saying that Tambungan has been harassing them since 2005 when he and other journalists wrote an article about Tambungan’s alleged “money” arrangements with night club owners.

CMFR/ Philippines – A newspaper editor and a columnist posted bail of Php10, 000 (approximately USD 234) each for their temporary liberty after the Iloilo City regional trial court (RTC)  issued last 11 April 2012 warrants for their arrest in connection with  a Php15.2 million libel case filed by the city mayor. Iloilo City is approximately 464 kilometers south of Manila.

Branch 29 of the  Iloilo City RTC ordered the arrest of Junep Ocampo, editor-in-chief of The News Today (TNT), and Manuel “Boy” Mejorada, columnist of TNT, in connection with the libel complaint filed by Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog. The libel complaint was in response to Mejorada’s article “Body of Evidence” published in TNT last 8 November 2011.

In the 8 November 2011 article, Mejorada accused Mabilog of misusing the Php2-million (approximately USD 46,930) cash donation received by the Honest and Accountable Living for a Graft-free Iloilo City (Haligi) Foundation from the United Parcel Services (UPS) Foundation in 2008. The fund was supposed to be used for English language teaching competency programs for public school teachers in Iloilo City. Mabilog is the founding chairman and currently serves as chief financial officer while his brother is the present chairman of the foundation.

In his complaint-affidavit filed last 25 November 2011, Mabilog denied the accusation and alleged that the article was designed to defame him and destroy his good reputation and his administration.

In his counter-affidavit, Mejorada said  his article was “based on facts and written and published in consonance with respondent’s duty as a journalist to expose the truth, and comment on it, no matter how harsh, about the character and behavior of public officials, untainted by malice or intent to libel complainant herein.” He added that Mabilog’s “denials failed to negate the weight of the documentary evidence” in his possession.

The Iloilo City Prosecutor’s Office found probable cause to file libel charges against Mejorada and Ocampo in a resolution dated 3 February 2012. In the four-page resolution, Deputy City Prosecutor Honorio Aragona Jr. found Mejorada’s article “libelous and sufficient to hold the respondents liable thereto” until they establish and prove in a full blown trial that the article was written  “in good faith and in pursuit of the public good.”

Libel is still a criminal offense in the Philippines despite calls for its decriminalization. In October 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Committee urged the Philippine government to decriminalize its 82-year old libel law in the country, as the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and some journalists’ groups have been urging for nearly two decades. (http://www.cmfr-phil.org/2012/01/31/a-triumph-for-free-expression-and-press-freedom/)