Adonis, other journalists challenge Philippine libel laws before UN

Colly Adonis, brother of jailed broadcaster Alexander Adonis pushes the send button during the e-filing of Adonis’s case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Counsels for Adonis, Harry Roque and Rommel Bagares said they are bringing Adonis�s case to the international courts because the imprisonment of a journalist for libel in the Philippines is contrary to Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which the Philippines is signatory. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) Davao chapter said decriminalizing libel in the country is contrary to freedom of expression. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)

He also filed before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 17 a motion to reopen the case filed by Nograles against Adonis to invoke a Supreme Court circular calling on all judges to impose fines rather than mete out jail terms to newsmen convicted for libel.

Earlier, Adonis showed up at the Regional Trial Court Branch 14 to face charges on a second libel complaint filed by the woman allegedly caught in bed with Nograles.

Handcuffed and wearing a blue inmates uniform, a gaunt Adonis sat side by side with suspects of cell phone snatching and killings, listening as the court deliberated on his case.

Roque had sought dismissal of Lomanta’s complaint on the basis of the Supreme Court ruling discouraging the lower courts from imposing jail terms for libel.

Lawyer Harry Roque of the Center for International Law (Centerlaw) defends Adonis on the complaint filed by Jeanette Lomanta-Leuterio. Roque argued that there is no reason for the court to continue prosecuting Adonis as he is already jailed for the same arguments used against him in the previous case filed by Congressman Prospero Nograles which convicted and sentenced him to for four and half years of imprisonment. Roque also argued in the light of the recent Supreme Court Circular which urged for fines, instead of imprisonment for libel. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)

He argued that Adonis’s imprisonment “defeats” the country’s Constitutionally-enshrined rights to freedom of expression and that there is no reason for the state to continue prosecuting Adonis because he has already been serving time in jail.

But state prosecutor Victoriano M. Bello Jr. inhibited himself from giving a decision, effectively moving the case to another pre-trial on May 26.

The revival of Lomanta’s complaint came at the time when Adonis could have qualified to seek parole, having spent his six-month minimum term in jail. Lomanta’s case cited the same circumstances that convicted Adonis. Its arraignment came six years after the case was filed. (Germelina Lacorte/Cheryll Fiel/davaotoday.com)

| Page 1 | Page 2