The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) condemns the barrage of legal charges filed against Roxas City-based anchors of Baskog Radio.
Today, a warrant of arrest was issued by a Muntinlupa court against India Lavapiez over unjust vexation charges. India did not know of the complaint prior to the issuance of the warrant. It turned out that the complainant is the son of a local politician who also filed a separate cyber libel case.
Earlier, India and her husband Jay Lavapiez, also a radio anchor, were shocked to know that they are facing estafa charges filed by a certain Manuel Silva Perez. A Parañaque court has issued a warrant of arrest for the estafa case. Again, the Lavapiezes were neither informed of any complaint nor had they received summons before the issuance of the warrant of arrest.
Aside from these two charges, a separate cyber libel case was filed by Sigma Mayor Dante Rizal Eslabon against the couple before a Manila court and another cyber libel filed before a Roxas City court by Eslabon’s political ally Cindy Francisco.
Another cyber libel case filed in Muntinlupa City was earlier dismissed for lack of evidence.
The charges against Baskog Radio are clearly meant to intimidate the broadcasters, exhaust their energy and resources, isolate them from their community, and distract them from their work as media practitioners.
In the past few years, the NUJP has noted the alarming pattern of using legal instruments against journalists, critics and dissenters by the powers that be. In fact, these attacks, including the filing of unjust vexation charges, have been recently becoming the weapon of choice against journalists.
NUJP reiterates that the country’s libel laws violate freedom of speech and expression, and should be decriminalized.
Judicial harassment is not the only weapon by those irked by the Lavapiezes. On June 22, Jay Lavapiez survived an attempt on his life, and the police have identified one of the suspects in the shooting incident but not yet the mastermind behind the attack.
We call on the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to investigate these incidents and take appropriate actions.
Reference:
National Directorate
secretariat@nujp.org
