Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he is going to seek executive pardon for Alexander “Lex” Adonis, the Davao broadcaster jailed for libel for reporting on the “Burlesque King” scandal, involving Duterte’s political rival, first district Congressman Prospero Nograles.
If media persons in Manila are raising a howl for being detained for hours without committing a crime, imagine how hard it would be for one to be sentenced to about six years in prison just because one could not afford a lawyer.
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte vowed to help the Davao broadcaster jailed for libel now that a full blown war has erupted between him and close administration ally Congressman Prospero Nograles over what people perceive as the first salvo of their fight for the 2010 elections.
“Roel Sembrano never took my side to [sic] the allegations that he want only broadcasted [sic] over the radio. His pronouncements on radio were all brazen lies and intrigues. People in Compostela valley and in Compostela municipality in particular are aware that Sembrano is not a broadcaster that [sic] reports objective truths, issues and events, but a media practtiioner who is under the wings, [sic] caprices and influences of some local politicians, immoral and corrupt, who are all out to destroy my refutation [sic] as a civil servant and critique [sic] of excesses of other politicians.” — Neri Barte, board member, Compostela Valley Province
The journalists trooped to the office of the Mindanao Ombudsman as Sembrano filed a criminal case of grave coercion, grave threats, physical injury, and an administrative case of grave abuse of authority against against the Compostela Valley provincial board member Neri Barte, who allegedly attacked him inside the announcer’s booth at around 6:15 a.m. of October 23.
Show of Support. Colleagues demand justice for Radyo Natin Compostela Broadcaster Roel Sembrano. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)
Silenced and Abandoned. Lex Adonis inside the Ma-a city jail in June. (davaotoday.com photo)
By GERMELINA A. LACORTE | Davao Today
Gladys Adonis, the wife of jailed Davao Alexander “Lex” Adonis, said her husband has been admitted to the prison hospital in early October.
She said Adonis, an anchorman of Bombo Radio-Davao sentenced to four and a half years in prison early this year, had been feeling utterly “abandoned and depressed,” and is thinking of ending his life.
Students and campus journalists of the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP) in Davao City light candles to protest a recent incident of violation of campus press freedom in their school. Members of the school’s official student publication, Collegiate Headlight, accused a professor of harassing members of the staff over an article on the increase of publication fees. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)