Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Station manager posts P14T bail
AKSYON Radyo manager Carlo Dugaduga is a free man after he finally posted bail in connection with the P10-million libel suit filed by Cebu Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr.
After Dugaduga complied with all the requirements and posting bail through a surety bond of P14,250, Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 6 Judge Ester Veloso signed his release order at 4:04 p.m.
The surety bond amount represents 20 percent of the P70,000 bail.
RTC Branch 5 Judge Douglas Arturo C. Marigomen, who issued the arrest warrant, was reportedly unavailable when Dugaduga finally posted bail.
Apart from SPO3 Joel Wenceslao, Dugaduga’s police escort, reporters and broadcasters of dyXR, popularly known as Aksyon Radyo of the Manila Broadcasting Company, arrived in full force at the Palace of Justice in Cebu City.
“I feel as if I had a thorn pulled out from me,” said Dugaduga after he got the release order.
Dugaduga, also executive vice president of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) Cebu chapter, spent the night in jail for failing to post bail following his arrest Monday.
The bail amount prompted top KBP Cebu officials, in a pooled broadcast, to question it, saying the minimum bail for each count of libel is only P10,000.
The 30-minute pooled broadcast, spearheaded by KBP Cebu president and radio dyAB manager Leo Lastimosa, gave leading broadcasters of radio dyHP, dyRF Radio Fuerza and dyXR Aksyon Radyo a chance to air their views on Dugaduga’s arrest.
They denounced the libel case as a way of suppressing freedom of the press.
Degree
Sanchez had filed two counts of libel complaint against broadcaster Gilbert Wagas, who runs a noontime block-time program “Wagas ug Gawasnon” over dyXR Aksyon Radyo, for attacking the products of Lacto Bacillus Pafi Techno Resources Corp., which the vice governor owns.
Dugaduga was indicted as dyXR manager.
Reporters learned that the Talisay City Prosecutor’s Office, headed by Marshall Rubia, recommended P30,000 and P40,000 for the first and second counts of the libel, respectively.
Rubia, for his part, told radio dyAB in an interview that their basis for recommending the bail amount was the complainant’s status in the community and the “degree” of the libelous statements.
He confirmed that the P10,000 bail for each count is the minimum amount on a libel case.
“But ours was only recommendatory. It’s the court that fixes or determines the bail bond,” he told dyAB anchorman Lastimosa.
Reaction
Meanwhile, Dugaduga said it would have been awkward to accept Sanchez’s offer of P5,000 as his contribution for the broadcaster’s bail bond.
“It doesn’t look good because he charged me with a libel suit and now he is offering his contribution,” he said.
KBP officers also decided yesterday to create a quick reaction team and form a “possible working relationship” with a legitimate group of lawyers following Dugaduga’s arrest.
This quick reaction team will be composed of board members from the print and broadcast media and is supposed to immediately inform the group and document issues affecting journalists, so that officers and members will “not be placed in disarray.”
In a meeting yesterday afternoon, Lastimosa said that it is also a way of showing that each broadcaster in Cebu, KBP member or not, can count on the organization in case of need, such as accidents and arrests.
Too much
Two government lawyers believe that the P70,000 bail imposed on the broadcaster was too high.
Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Santiago, speaking generally, said the penalty of libel is so small that it is even comparable with the penalty of those cases cognizable by the Municipal Trial Court.
“It doesn’t matter how much the civil indemnification is,” she said. Santiago teaches Criminal Law at the University of San Carlos.
She didn’t want to comment on the Dugaduga case specifically, adding that she isn’t privy to the facts.
Lawyer Llena Ipong-Avila of the Office of the Regional State Prosecutor, in a separate interview, said the maximum bail for libel charges is P12,000 based on the bail bond guide of the justice department’s Manual for Prosecutors.
Also declining to speak on specific terms, she said she would recommend P24,000 if a person she is indicting in court ends up facing two counts. 9GC/NRC/With KNR0
