Dumaguete City Prosecutor Eliezer Escorial has approved a recommendation to file a case against broadcaster Joene D. Cahilog, a.k.a. Rex Santos, for libel.
The case against Cahilog, who hosts a program entitled Kandos over DYGB-FM, was filed by fellow broadcaster Florence Baesa, station manager of DYMD-FM. In her complaint, Baesa said Cahilog repeatedly called her a liar in a broadcast aired last April 12, 2014.
Baesa presented a recording of the program and a transcript of the said broadcast, which were not denied by Cahilog.
Cahilog claimed that the comments he made were fair and done in good faith as Pepino and some other radio personalities made attacks against the governor and his wife. Cahilog said Baesa, who engaged herself in political issues, cannot escape from public opinion and fair commentaries.
But Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Arnel Zerna, who investigated the complaint, said the vile attacks against Baesa and Pepino “can only be construed as maliciously personal in nature because there was not a single issue of public concern that was discussed involving the complainant during that broadcast.”
Rather, Zerna continued, Cahilog would always refer to an incident before the Dumaguete Press Club where Baesa allegedly questioned Cahilog’s using of an alias.
Zerna said while it might be correct to say that a person has the right to defend himself, a relative, or even a stranger, the act of defending must be commensurate and only sufficient to halt that attack. “If the respondent wanted to defend his use of an alias, he should have done so at the very forum where the attack was made.”
If, on the other hand he wanted to defend the governor from the attacks, “he could have answered the issues raised or allowed the governor or his official representative to answer the issues… and the allowable defense can only be limited to the issues raised and none other.”
Zerna said he listened to the recording of the broadcast twice to try to discern any hint of fairness in the commentaries against Baesa or that maybe the utterances were a reporting of the sentiments of the public. “However, what can be heard are only respondent’s personal attacks on complainant and this Cornelio Pepino, the words used and the tone in which they were delivered were vile and malevolent.”
