A Bohol tri-media group has slammed Bohol Gov. Art Yap’s inciting to sedition case against his three critics before the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office last October as a “ form of harassment, if not a start of press repression.”
In a statement, the Bohol Tri-Media Association (BTMA) said the complaint is a “veiled threat to press freedom and free expression enshrined under the 1987 Philippine Constitution.”
Yap could not be contacted for comment as of press time.
The BTMA added that Yap’s move is “queer” as “even Pres. Duterte, who is still facing unscrupulous criticisms, left and right, from not only his nemesis here but also from other places in the world, did not lift a finger to go after his critics in court.”
The Makati Prosecutors Office under City prosecutor Dindo Venturanza is slated to render its resolution this month after parties involved were asked to submit their respective counter- affidavits.
The BTMA said although every person has the right to file a case if one is aggrieved, it stressed that it “should not be at the expense of the media people.”
The statement of the BTMA came after Yap filed a complaint against former Tagbilaran City Mayor Dan Lim, Bohol Chronicle Radio Corp. chair Peter Dejaresco, and Manila-based Boholano businessman Willy Ramasola.
“Such act of filing the case against media personalities sends a wrong signal, not only to the media but also to the people and the electorate,” the BTMA added.
The BTMA led by its president, veteran newscaster Fred Araneta, said that “if Capitol is running after the necks of prominent personalities, there’s no reason to believe that it cannot also attack the lowly who are hapless and defenseless.”
“We will never be silenced in doing our roles in the community,” BTMA stressed while asking government officials to “respect press freedom
not only in words but also in deed.”
In his more than 150-pages complaint affidavit, Yap alleged a conspiracy among the three respondents who were “incessantly, viciously and consistently publishing scurrilous libel not only against me but also against the Bohol Provincial Government and its officials.”
The first termer governor alleged a “pattern of putting myself and the Bohol Provincial Government in a bad light in whatever situation, issuance or decision made.
In a radio interview, Dejaresco clarified that there is no such pattern as issues just come as netizens air their views, comments and criticisms against the provincial government.
He said that the governor was caught as to his real intent in a recorded public statement in a radio interview explaining that he filed the complaint “kay dili sila muhunong ug ataki nako” (they will not stop attacking me).
It can be recalled that a few months after he assumed the position of governor, Yap was suspended for three months in relation to his function as secretary of the Department of Agriculture under former Pres. Arroyo.