NBI to invite owner of printing press over anti-GMA posters

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will summon the owner of a Quezon City printing press caught mass-producing posters depicting President Arroyo as Valentina, the snake-haired villainess in the television series "Darna."

Lawyer Ricardo Diaz, NBI-Interpol chief, said they will question Michael Fitzgerald Agbayani Ligot, reportedly the owner of Always Graphic and Printing Service in Project 3, Quezon City.

"We will invite Ligot as part of the NBI’s procedural due process," he said. "This is to ensure that he is not a co-conspirator in the destabilization efforts."

As of now, the NBI sees Ligot only as a businessman who agreed to carry out the printing jobs without complicity in efforts to destabilize the government, he added.

Diaz said the NBI intends to elicit from Ligot the name of the client who ordered the printing of two posters in which Mrs. Arroyo is depicted as the superhero Darna with the words "Palayain ang Bayan sa Utang," and as Darna’s archenemy, Valentina.

NBI agents seized a job order slip for the "Valentina" posters that allegedly showed a certain Noel Lopez from the militant group Freedom from Debt Coalition had ordered the posters printed.

Diaz said the NBI will file charges against Ligot of unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances under the Revised Penal Code.

The offense is punishable by a prison term of one to six months, and a fine of P200, he added.

However, Diaz said they are also thinking of slapping charges of inciting to sedition and libel against Ligot, depending on the evidence that is gathered.

"The President is entitled to a modicum of respect and they should not portray her as ‘President Evil,’" he said. Under normal circumstances, the NBI would ignore street demonstrations, but with the destabilization efforts, they have become more vigilant about protests, Diaz said.