Radioman in libel seeks P2M

MANILA, Philippines—A Davao-based journalist convicted of libel in 2007 will ask for P2 million in compensation from the government after a United Nations (UN) panel sided with him in its review of his conviction.

In a forum in Quezon City Friday, radio broadcaster Alexander Adonis said he planned to demand P1 million for each of the two years he spent in prison for allegedly slandering a former speaker of the House.

Adonis, found guilty in a defamation case filed by former Speaker Prospero Nograles, had asked the UN Human Rights Committee to review his case.

The UN panel issued an official view directing the Philippine government to compensate him for his imprisonment.

His lawyer, Harry Roque, said they will meet with Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to discuss the compensation and the UN panel’s recommendation for a review of the country’s libel law.

In 2001, Adonis read on his Bombo Radyo program a newspaper item that said Nograles was seen running in a hotel hallway in the nude after the husband of a woman he was allegedly having an affair with caught them in the act.