|
By Cris G. Odronia, Reporter
Broadcast journalist Cecilia
“Che che” Lazaro posted bail Friday morning before a Pasay City
court in connection with wiretapping charges filed against her by
the Government Insurance and Service System (GSIS).
To avoid arrest, Lazaro, through
her lawyer Mon Songco, filed a P12,000 bond before the courtroom of
Judge Josephine Vito Cruz of Branch 47 of the Pasay Metropolitan
Trial Court. Vito Cruz had issued the arrest warrant against Lazaro
on Friday morning.
Lazaro arrived at Pasay Hall of
Justice around 1 p.m. and was accompanied by ABS-CBN News and
Current Affairs Division head Maria Ressa, some of Probe’s
production staff members and concerned teachers.
The charges filed by the state
pension fund were a “pure case of intimidation and harassment,”
the 63-year-old journalist said. “Because they refused to answer
the questions of the teachers they are now turning their guns on
me.”
“This is a clear case of
harassment and intimidation to silent journalists who want to get
the truth of what is really happening,” she added. “Why are they
not answering questions? Why are they focusing on a matter like
wiretapping? There is no wiretapping here.”
“I’m a journalist, and I’m
just telling a story. Maybe this is not just my story. It is a story
of all journalists.” Lazaro said that GSIS was sending out a
strong signal meant to threaten journalists.
Wiretapping raps
Earlier, the GSIS accused Lazaro
and the 18 other ABS-CBN personnel, including network President
Charo Santos-Concio and Ressa, for allegedly violating the
anti-wiretapping law.
Ella Valencerina, GSIS vice
president, explained that Lazaro wiretapped their phone conversation
in November 2008, and aired the portions of the conversation on her
TV program Probe without her consent.
She said the Probe story was
pertaining to the retirement benefits of teachers.
But Lazaro argued Valencerina was
aware that the conversation, spanning close to 10 minutes, was being
taped.
“Totoong nakausap ko si Ms.
Valencerina. Totoong ni-report namin pero hindi totoong nag-wiretap
kami. Sinabi namin sa kanya that the conversation is being recorded.
[It’s true that I talked with Ms. Valencerina. It’s true that we
reported it, but it’s not true that we wiretapped the interview.
We told her that the conversation was being recorded],” Lazaro
said.
The Center for Media Freedom and
Responsibility also issued a statement on Friday calling wiretapping
charge “absurd” and “dangerous.” It added that
Valencerina’s own statements during her conversation with Lazaro
and in a letter sent in response to the Probe request for an
interview provide a clue as to why she filed the suit.
“In both instances Ms. Valencerina
referred to the alleged bias of ‘Lopez-owned media entities’ as
the reason for her and her superiors’ refusal to present their
side of the issue,” according to the Center.
“This suggests that Ms. Valencerina
and/or her superiors see the incident as an opportunity to get back
at those ‘entities.’ Lest the public has forgotten, the GSIS is
the lead government agency that has been trying to gain control of
the Manila Electric Co., or Meralco, which, like ABS-CBN, is among
the ‘Lopez-owned entities’ for which the present government has
a demonstrated antipathy.
Valencerina and her superiors
want to get back at ABS-CBN through Lazaro and Probe, the statement
said.
No consent on taping
The pension fund’s lawyer,
Estrella Alamparo, insisted that Lazaro “never sought the consent
of Valencerina” to tape the conversation that was aired on
television.
“The fact that the fiscal found
probable cause . . . it means that there was enough evidence, enough
basis, to conclude that Lazaro at the very least is probably guilty
of the crime charged,” Alamparo told The Manila Times in phone
interview.
Lazaro is the only one facing the
wiretapping charges at the moment, as the charges against the other
18 others ABS-CBN personnel had already been dropped.
The arraignment of the case was
set on May 20. 
|
