Abuse of power

REUVEN Barranovich, an Israeli who, with his Filipino wife has a lending business in Cagayan de Oro City, was shocked when he was arrested by the police in the city on a libel charge.

He says he never received a subpoena from the Manila Prosecutor’s Office where the libel case was filed by Cagayan de Oro City Prosecutor Fidel Macauyag.

The Manila Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against Barranovich in the Manila Regional Trial Court which promptly issued a warrant of arrest against him.

The warrant was served late in the day so the Israeli businessman obviously could not post bail and had to spend the night in jail.

(Policemen, under orders, tried the same thing on me after I was charged with libel by then first gentleman Mike Arroyo, but I was two paces ahead of them and was able to post bail).

Worse, as Barranovich was taken to the police precinct, news crews from different TV stations were around to record the event.

It was apparently meant to humiliate the businessman who was made to look like a thief or a murderer.

Barranovich has apparently made an enemy of a brotherhood of government prosecutors who rally behind a beleaguered member.

Earlier, Barranovich had filed several administrative complaints in the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Macauyag and other prosecutors in Cagayan de Oro for allegedly trying to extort money from him and his wife.

He complained to this columnist that the cases he and his wife filed against Macauyag and his subordinate prosecutors had not moved.

The cases, which he alleged were “manufactured,” that Macauyag reportedly prodded some persons to file against him, on the other hand, were promptly given action.

One of the department’s assistant secretaries, it seemed, was related to Macauyag.

The slow pace of the investigation on Macauyag saw print in this column on Jan. 19, 2016.

The libel cases filed against Barranovich by the Cagayan de Oro prosecutor was not based on my column, but on the administrative cases the Israeli businessman and his wife filed in the DOJ.

The filing of the libel case in Manila, instead of Cagayan de Oro City, where the Barranoviches live, was clearly intended to send a message to the Israeli businessman: “Don’t mess with us. We are powerful. We can make life miserable for you.”

If that’s not abuse of power, I don’t know what is.

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Lito Banayo, former administrator of the National Food Authority (NFA), has been foisting himself on Davao City Mayor and presidential aspirant Rody Duterte by making himself a self-appointed spokesperson.

Banayo is facing graft charges in the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged rice smuggling while he was head at the NFA.