Ex-NPC President Jerry Yap on his arrest for libel at NAIA on Sunday: “This arrest is no less than another proof that libel law is just a tool of abuse by thin-faced public officials.”
by Leony Garcia
Former National Press Club President Jerry Yap made headlines on Sunday as he was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for a libel case.
Yap, who is also chairman of Alab ng Mamamahayag (Alam), is columnist and publisher of tabloid Hataw was arrested by members of the Manila Police District warrant and subpoena section at 1 p.m. at NAIA Terminal 3, after arriving from a week-long vacation in Japan.
The arrest was based on a warrant issued on March 30 by Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 39 Judge Noli Diaz, in connection with libel case filed against Yap by MPD- District Police Intelligence Operation Unit (DPIOU) Chief Senior Inspector Rizalino Ibay.
Yap deplored the arrest made by the MPD, claiming that it was meant to harass and silence him.
He also hit MPD for serving the arrest warrant on a weekend, a clear violation of the existing agreement between the PNP and media groups that no arrest can be made against journalists during weekends, especially if the case is libel.
Rowena Paraan, chairperson of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines confirmed that there is such an agreement signed by PNP with NUJP, NPC, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas and the Philippine Press Institute.
The case stemmed from Yap’s column “Bulabugin” that appeared on Hataw and another tabloid, Police Files, on October 3, 2014 with the title “Salot na tulak sa distrito uno ng Maynila (Attn: PDEA).
Yap is currently detained at MPD headquarters.
Through his Facebook account, Yap issued a press statement on Monday regarding his arrest which reads:
Libel is just abused by officials
First, I express my profound gratitude to National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP), through its president Rowena Paraan, for coming to my side in my hour of despair brought about by the diabolical arrest done on me by Manila Police District (MPD) warrant officers.
The fight for press freedom and my morale got a big boost from the act of NUJP in condemning the arrest for two (2) counts of libel in violation of the Memorandum of Agreement among the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Immigration, National Press Club (NPC), NUJP and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) providing for the non-implementation of arrest on Fridays and weekends.
I also thank Inquirer for publishing my plight so that the eyes of the public may be opened to this law that ironically compels the State to serve nothing but private interests of public officials.
This arrest is no less than another proof that libel law is just a tool of abuse by thin-faced public officials, like Police Senior Inspector Rosalino P. Ibay Jr. who caused these two counts of libel that led to my malicious arrest.
Imagine that what I wrote was not libel in so far as Ibay is concerned. I only stated in my column Bulabugin that a team of policemen at a checkpoint caught a person for illegal drugs and a gun. This team released this person later without any charge filed. I also wrote that these cops were of the Don Bosco Police Detachment in Tondo, Manila and that the head of the same unit was Ibay. He however insisted he was no longer the head when this incident occurred. What then is libel here? Certainly, he was not defamed here. What then is the legal and moral ground of the Office of the City Prosecutor to conclude there is probable cause for two counts of libel when it is clearly not libel and when the same item published in Hataw and was published verbatim in another newspaper? What then is the legal and moral ground of Regional Trial Court of Manila, Branch 39, Judge Noli Diaz in approving the criminal information for two counts of libel and thereafter issue warrants for my arrest on 30 March 2015? Let the public judge all of them.
The malice in the arrest is patent on its face. How could these warrant officers of the MPD know I was coming in the afternoon of Easter Sunday from abroad and would arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 if they did not deliberately seek my whereabouts and plan my arrest?
