‘Press freedom assault’; Gwen denies hand

SUSPENDED governor Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday denied having a hand in Sun Star’s decision to suspend the column of her frequent critic, Bobby Nalzaro.

“Wala ko’y labot ana kang  Nalzaro kay sa mga elder Garcia na nga decision ug ako wa ma-belong sa  ‘elder’ (I’m not involved in Nalzaro’s case. It was the decision of the Garcia elders and I don’t belong to that circle),” she said.

Liberal Party Cebu spokesman Democrito Barcenas condemned the removal of Nalzaro’s column as curtailment of press freedom.

“They (Garcia’s camp) keep saying there’s martial law.  Yes, there is and it is in Sun Star.  That’s an assault on freedom of the press,” said Barcenas.

Nalzaro, a popular radio-TV anchor,  confirmed on Sunday to  Cebu Daily News that he had stopped submitting  columns since the new year after he  was advised by his editors to discontinue writing  columns in Sun Star Cebu and its Cebuano tabloid Superbalita as the  management had to accede to the request of  elders of the Garcia family who had complained about him.

Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale said  she was “saddened” by the development.

“Mr. Nalzaro is very independent minded.   I was sued for temporarily closing Sugbo TV which is not even an independent media outlet and now here’s this development,” she said.

Deputy Speaker Pablo Garcia yesterday said Nalzaro’s attacks against his daughter in his columns were too personal.

But he said  they have nothing to do with the suspension of his columns.

“Ila kana nga decision, igo ra ming mi-express sa among dissatisfaction anang iyang mga columns nga personal kaayo (That’s their decision. We just expressed our dissatisfaction with his columns that had become too personal) but we had no influence over the management of Sun Star,” he said in a radio dyLA interview.

The elder Garcia  said  he did not know about the suspension of Nalzaro’s column until the radio station called him to seek his  comment.

Isolde Amante, editor in chief of Sun Star Cebu, earlier confirmed that the decision was made by the newspaper’s board  of directors which is headed by Jesus “Sonny” Garcia,  a first cousin of the suspended governor.

In his radio program over dySS yesterday, Nalzaro  said he was told of the board’s decision right after New Year’s day.

He said he  revealed the reasons only now in answer to queries from  column readers who asked why his pieces  no longer appear in the two papers.

Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) Cebu secretary-general Aaron Pedrosa described the suspension of Nalzaro’s column as a curtailment of press freedom.

Pedrosa said he did not entirely agree with what Nalzaro writes in his columns, recalling that Nalzaro would  tag their group as “walhon” or leftist.

“But this is a matter of grave public concern that even  press freedom is being curtailed.   Asa pa man diay padulong kining padayon nga standoff sa Capitol? (Where is this Capitol standoff heading?)”  he said./Renan Alangilan, Ador Vincent Mayol, and Jhunnex Napallacan