‘Go after other lewd tabloids’

CEBU Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale yesterday encouraged the Cebu City Anti-Indecency Board (CAIB) to go after other tabloids with lewd content.

She said these tabloids were printed in Manila and sold in local news stands.

“I am very happy we have a partner,” said Magpale after the CCAIB filed a criminal complaint on Wednesday against two Cebuano-language tabloids for running columns that the board said used “obscene, indecent and sexually suggestive” language.

Magpale said the Provincial Women’s Commission, where she is co-chairman, said they were aware of other “sexy” tabloids shipped from Manila and sold in local newsstands.

“We were told that some don’t have editorial boxes,” she said, to hide the identities of the entities publishing them.

Magpale said the PWC had previously called the attention of Cebu’s two local tabloids when she was still a Provincial Board member.

In 2009, she said, the PWC sent letters to the publishers to warn them about the tabloids’ “explicit” contents.

“Dugay na namo ning gi-fight (This has been a long fight.) The feedback was that they believed there was nothing wrong with the content.”

She said the PWC was willing to work closely with the Cebu City board.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama lauded the CCAIB’s legal action.

Rama said the move proved that the board under the leadership of Dr. Lucelle Mercado, who is an appointee of Rama, is doing its job.

“Their observation is meritorious. I have also read their report. It only means taht they are serious about their job.”

Meanwhile, the Cebu Citizens-Press Council , in a statement by executive director Pachico A. Seares, said it would let the prosecutor and court decide on the complaint filed against Sun.Star SuperBalita and the Freeman Banat, although “both newspapers contend the feature stories are not (obscene and indecent).”

“ Let the prosecutor and, if necessary, the courts de cide the issue. As long as the CCAIB move is not being used for repression or persecution, the mechanism is accepted by the industry.”

Seares said the “CCAIB though should’ve taken heed of the Supreme Court injunction that only publication that is ‘so depraved and corrupt’ with no trace of moral reemption or purpose whatsoever is punishable.”

Volunteer laywers in the Cebu Media Legal Aid (Cemla) “will assist, if asked, in defending the journalists sed by the city agency.”

Seares is also the Public and Standards Editor of SuperBalita. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus with a report from Correspondent Edison A. Delos Angeles