Davao Sur broadcaster facing libel raps rushed to hospital after arrest

DIGOS CITY – Broadcaster Arvin Malaza was admitted to the hospital, just a few hours after he was arrested over a libel suit on Friday, Supt. Querubin Manalang, the city police chief, confirmed on Saturday.

Manalang did not give specifics as to Malaza’s condition, except by saying he had bouts with chest pains.

He said the broadcaster started complaining of chest pains after his arrest and was brought to the Digos Doctor’s Hospital.

Malaza, also known as Jun Blanco, was arrested around 3:40 p.m. on Friday over five counts of libel filed at the Regional Trial Court Branch 18 here by former mayor Arsenio Latasa.

Regional Trial Court Judge Carmelita Sarno Davin, who issued the warrant against Malaza, prescribed a bail of P10,000 for each count.

It was reported that he had failed to post bail because Davin was not available.

However, Davin clarified on Saturday that she was on sick leave at the time of Malaza’s arrest.

“As a general rule, the bail has to be posted in my sala but in my absence, he can post bail at any court,” she said by phone.

Davin said she wondered why Malaza, who is represented by lawyer Flor Sardido, did not do that.

The Inquirer’s court sources said the warrant for Malaza’s arrest was issued as early as Wednesday last week, which would have given the broadcaster ample time to process his bail.

One of the sources said when the warrant was issued, Sardido had initially tried to process Malaza’s bail but for some reasons, she did not push through with it.

“They had so much time because they already knew about the warrant as early as last week,” one of the sources, who declined to be named for lack of authority to speak on the matter, added.

The source confirmed that Sardido even came to the court for another case on Thursday, a day after the warrant was issued, but did nothing on it.

“I believe they deliberately did not post bail,” the source said, adding that already, the Malaza-owned Muews Radio had capitalized on the issue. Malaza is running for a seat in the provincial board while Sardido is seeking to become mayor of Sulop, Davao del Sur.

As to Malaza’s hospitalization, Davin said it was the judgment call of the local police.

“The general rule is that the hospitalization of a suspect has to be approved by a judge but I think it was the police’s judgment call. They might have thought the illness could endanger the suspect’s life,” she said.

Malaza’s trouble started in early August when he suddenly made Latasa, who was also former Davao del Sur vice governor, the subject of his criticism.

READ: Radio broadcaster in Davao del Sur faces 255 counts of libel

He started by accusing Latasa of accumulating wealth while in public office. Malaza said among pieces of evidence were “Latasa’s mansion and Olympic-size swimming pool” but offered no further evidence.

He also insinuated that Latasa – whom he called names on air – was behind the extra-judicial killings here of suspected criminals when he was mayor from 1992 to 2010.

By September, Latasa had already filed more than 200 complaints for libel against Malaza at the city and provincial prosecutor’s office – citing among other reasons Malaza’s insinuations he had an affair with the wife of another broadcaster and probably had fathered a child with her.

The wife of the said broadcaster also filed on September 9 at least 11 counts of libel against Malaza at the city prosecutor’s office.

Of the complaints that Latasa filed, the city prosecutor’s office only approved six counts, which the court issued a warrant for.

There has been no information from the Davao del Sur provincial prosecutor’s office on the status of the complaints that Latasa had separately filed there.

Malaza has been claiming he was being politically harassed and sought the help of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) but Latasa said the recordings of Malaza’s broadcast would prove it was not the case. Reports from Orlando Dinoy and Eldie Aguirre/CDG