1 month ago
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CALAPAN CITY — The Provincial Prosecutor's Office dismissed the complaint filed by a municipal mayor in the province of Oriental Mindoro against four mediamen who were accused of resisting and disobeying a person of authority.
In a two-page decision, Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Jennifer Marasigan-Uy dismissed the complaint filed by Bongabong Mayor Eligio Malaluan against Jonathan Atuel, Reynaldo Jandusay, Robert Evora and Ire Joe Laurente, all media practitioners in the province.
"After a meticulous study of the pieces of evidence, this office finds that no prima facie case exists against the respondents for the crime charged as the evidence at hand failed to sufficiently establish all the elements of the said offense such that if the evidence remains uncontroverted, the same warrants the conviction of the respondents," the decision said.
The decision was dated Jan. 9, 2025, but was only received by the newsmen on Feb. 13, via registered mail.
The complaint of Malaluan stemmed from an incident when the newsmen covered the bidding of the farm to market road project of the municipality on Nov. 12, 2024.
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The newsmen were confronted by the mayor inside his office and asked them why they are there to which the newsmen replied that they are there to cover the bidding process.
The mayor then asked one of the newsmen to stop his video recording and even tried to confiscate the cellphone to which the newsman refused.
The mayor later offered them coffee.
In his complaint before the Provincial Prosecutor's Office, Malaluan alleged that the respondents failed to comply with the municipal government's pro-tocol of listing or recording their names in the logbook before entering the municipal hall and going to their intended office.
The decision came as a surprise to the newsmen as they were not informed of the mayor's complaint against them and was not even summoned by the prosecutor to give their side of the allegations.
The newsmen, on the other hand, filed a complaint against Malaluan before the Office of the Ombudsman for abuse of authority, illegal detention, grave coercion, and violation of the anti-graft and practices act.
