Libel raps junked vs 2 broadcasters

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Two broadcasters scored a legal victory when the libel charges brought against them by the chief of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) office  here were thrown out by a judge and a government prosecutor.

Jonathan Macailing and Joel Eduque, both of Bombo Radyo, said  the local court in Panabo City and the prosecutor’s office in  the Island Garden City of Samal, both in Davao del Norte, had dismissed the cases filed against them by BOC-Gensan port collector Lowell Medija.

Macailing and Eduque said it was apparent  the cases were simply harassment because they were filed in courts in another region, Davao. General Santos City is located in central Mindanao.

“The filing of the libel charges against us in different places was crystal clear harassment. The complaints could have been filed right here in General Santos,” Macailing said.

Medija had filed a libel complaint against Macailing in  the city prosecutor’s office in the Island Garden City of Samal and a case against Eduque in the Panabo Regional Trial Court for allegedly branding him a corrupt government official in their radio programs.

Medija used news broadcasts of the two journalists, which were streamed live over the Bombo Radyo website, as the bases for  filing his complaints.

In dismissing the charges, RTC Judge Dax Gonzaga Xenos of Panabo City, said there was no basis for charging Eduque because there was no law penalizing journalists who air their  criticism over the Internet.

This was the same argument used by the prosecutor of  the Island Garden City of Samal in dismissing Macailing’s case.   Aquiles Z. Zonio, Inquirer Mindanao