QC court acquits TV execs in Gretchen Fullido harassment case

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August 29, 2026 | 12:18pm

MANILA, Philippines — A Quezon City court acquitted television producers Cheryl Favila and Maricar Asprec of sexual harassment charges filed by news anchor and showbiz journalist Gretchen Fullido.

It can be recalled in 2017, Fullido filed an administrative complaint to her superiors at ABS-CBN against Favila and Asprec, who at the time were a supervising producer and segment producer, respectively.

Fullido alleged that both women had been sending her texts with sexual innuendos amounting to requests for sexual favors and her job increased in difficulty after rejecting such attempts.

ABS-CBN dismissed the allegations in July 2018 after finding insufficient evidence to support the claims, though the journalist admitted at the time there wasn't any explicit demand for sexual favors.

Favila still left the network after ABS-CBN found the news executive liable for "gross misconduct and unprofessional conduct for using sexually oriented language within a superior-subordinate relationship."

Three months later, Fullido filed criminal complaints for sexual harassment against the two producers as well as libel complaints against several ABS-CBN executives and colleagues before the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office.

Fellow journalists Ces Drilon and Marie Lozano saw libel suits against them end with junking and acquittal, respectively, while Favila and Asprec continued to deny the allegations against them as the cited text messages were supposedly taken out of context.

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Another acquittal

Judge Angeli Albana-Garrido of the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 32, in a 91-page decision promulgated on August 28, acquitted the two producers of the charges under Republic Act No. 7877 or the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995.

Albana-Garrido's decision cited jurisprudence in criminal law that "all doubts should be resolved in favor of the accused" and it was the duty of the prosecution to "prove beyond reasonable doubt each and every element of the crime charged, otherwise, the accused should be acquitted."

The judge explained that Favila and Asprec were "acquitted for the crime of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace... based on reasonable doubt."

Favila was notably represented by lawyers Klinton Torralba, Iyla Marie Ferrer and Janessa Mari Kudera while Fullido's counsel was Atty. Lorna Kapunan, who is currently one of the private prosecutors in the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte.

Neither Fullido nor Kapunan has yet to address the acquittal of Favila and Asprec as of press time.

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