Flurry of cases against Northern Dispatch continues, with EIC facing fresh cyber libel charge
MANILA, Philippines — The flurry of cases against Northern Dispatch (Nordis) continues, with the office of the prosecutor in Benguet filing a cyber libel charge against the editor-in-chief of the Northern Luzon alternative media outlet.
The charge against Kimberly Quitasol was previously a libel case which had already been filed before two courts, but junked due to lack of jurisdiction, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).
Despite this, the case was revised to cyber libel and refiled before Regional Trial Court Branch 59 in Baguio City.
“This is the same scheme employed by [Benguet Provincial Prosecutor Andres] Gondayao and complainant, Police Regional Office Cordillera Regional Director Brigadier General Rwin Pagkalinawan against another journalist, Khim Abalos, who was also charged with cyber libel in an earlier Resolution of September 22, 2020,” the NUJP said.
Nordis said that while the prosecutor’s office certified that it had already undertaken preliminary investigation of the complaints filed by Pagkalinawan, Quitasol and Abalos were never summoned to give them the chance to answer the allegations.
Nordis added that the charges were no longer surprising, as they have been subject to “online terrorist-tagging and vilification by online trolls and state forces.” They also called the charges against their staffers as harassment.
“Our conscience is clear. We are ready to face our accuser in court. At least, with the proceedings, we would be given a chance to speak and defend ourselves, a right that the prosecutor denied us during the preliminary investigation,” Quitasol said in a Nordis report.
‘Nanlaban’ narrative won’t justify murder
The cyber libel charges against Quitasol and Abalos stem from a complaint by Police Brig. Gen. Rwin Pagkalinawan, Cordillera regional police chief, over articles where he was quoted as ordering snipers to shoot communists who unnecessarily organize people during the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine, according to Nordis.
Nordis said that the Pagkalinawan alleged that Quitasol and Abalos “deliberately omitted” that he only advocated for shooting communists if they fight back.
But NUJP Baguio-Benguet said that a shoot-to-kill order runs counter to the police’s mandate, regardless if they would only do so if suspects fight back or “nanlaban.”
“Authorities have long used the ‘nanlaban’ narrative to justify killings of suspected drug personalities and communists rebels. This alibi will never be enough to justify murder, much more irresponsible shoot to kill orders,” the union said. — Xave Gregorio/Philstar.com
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