Libel is a threat to press freedom!
I gathered that some 12 passengers were killed and as many as 27 people were hurt when a Rural Transit Mindanao bus exploded as it passed in front of the main entrance of the Central Mindanao State University at around 5:30PM last Tuesday in Maramag, Bukidnon. Now whether this bomb was an Improvised Explosive Device or a land mine, the police can't tell yet.
Exactly a week ago, I flew to Davao City and passed over Bukidnon and I pondered about the beauty of the Mindanao landscape. It's so green and ripe for agriculture industries. But there is no peace in Mindanao. As news reports said, this was the second bus attack against the same bus company. Last Nov. 6, an RTMI Transit bus from Tacurong City was also bombed using a 60 mm mortar shell as an IED. But police and military intelligence can't pinpoint yet as to who authored that bombing, whether they are terrorist groups or Muslim separatists. So in the meantime, we shall follow the leads in the news and come up with our observations until the police have their suspects on their list.
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I learned that former Mayor Tomas Osmeña filed a libel case against my good friend, Super Bobby Nalzaro of SunStar Daily and GMA-7's DySS for allegedly besmirching his reputation when he filed multiple administrative complaints against Cebu City Treasurer Diwa Cuevas. His case against Bobby Nalzaro is that the latter falsely accused him of fabricating charges against the City Treasurer. Frankly speaking, I do not want to go into the details of this case for the simple reason that public officials, even the retired ones could be "pikon" and include us in their charge sheet.
But then, we are part and parcel of the Cebu Media and whenever one amongst us gets a libel suit, the entire Cebu Media close ranks and cry foul as we all believe in our Constitutional Right to Freedom of Speech! All the more here in Cebu where all the media practitioners are friends first and foremost. A case in point was during the 25th anniversary dinner for Cokaliong Shipping Lines, where on our table were the top editors and publishers of The Freeman and the Cebu Daily News. SunStar and the other news media outlets were in the next table.
You do not see this kind of camaraderie elsewhere, especially with our Manila counterparts… where PR companies usually hold dinners or parties for each media outlet separately. Indeed, it is only the Cebu Media that celebrates Press Freedom Week annually. So we jointly exhort former Mayor Tomas Osmeña to reconsider his move against Bobby Nalzaro for his own benefit. If Cebuanos are closely watching this case, it is not because Super Bobby Nalzaro is a popular broadcaster or writer, but rather they want to see if the former congressman of the South District has changed.
It can be recalled that Tomas Osmeña lost his comeback bid for mayor of Cebu City because many people were just sick and tired of his arrogant ways. Then he had a bout with cancer, which, thanks to our prayers and his being treated at the MD Anderson Medical Center in Houston, Texas (they are the best in the world when it comes to cancer treatment), the former mayor got a clean bill of health and proudly published this in a full-page paid advertisement. This got people asking, why did Tomas have to publish that he is cancer free when the Cebu Media could have published this fact?
But then, despite the Philippine media's effort to decriminalize libel, it is still around and used by unscrupulous individuals in order to silence journalists or broadcasters. Indeed, there are just too many court cases involving journalists that have been dragged to courtrooms many times simply because these supposedly aggrieved individuals know too well that lawyers here are fond of delaying tactics so that the case would stretch as far as they could so they can make money from their clients. Yes this is a fact!
I said unscrupulous people simply because you never get into the wrong end of someone's column or get attacked over the radio unless you have achieved some kind of notoriety! Alas! Since the EDSA Revolution, nothing much has changed in our judicial system, which moves at a snail's pace. If at all there are many killings by hired assassins, it is because some people can no longer trust the judicial system that is so painstakingly slow.
So back to the libel case that former Mayor Tomas Osmeña filed against Bobby Nalzaro. Did he file it because he was aggrieved or did he file it because this is the most effective way to silence the mouth of Bobby Nalzaro who at this point can no longer write nor broadcast anything about Mr. Osmeña for the simple reason that if he did so he could get himself another contempt charge? I would like to believe that this case was filed to silence Bobby Nalzaro. I too have my own libel suit, which has taken 8 years in court with no resolution in sight. Indeed, libel is a threat to Press freedom.
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