BOBBY NALZARO
CEBU CITY, Philippines–Trimedia personality, Pablito “Bobby” Nalzaro, said he is ready to post bail if an arrest warrant will be released by the Cebu City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 11 over the four counts of libel case filed by Ramon Miguel Osmeña, the son of former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
In a text message to CDN Digital, Nalzaro said his lawyers informed him that last week, the Cebu City Prosecutor has denied their motion for reconsideration on the libel cases and that he is expecting the arrest warrant to be served any time.
“I can safely say without fear of contradiction, that this is one of the ‘hazards of the profession,'” Nalzaro said. “Libel, sometimes, is being used as a tool to harass, intimidate and silence media people.”
The warrant of arrest has not been served as of 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 5, 2019.
Nalzaro said he will be posting bail on Friday noon, September 6, 2019, once the warrant is in order.
The broadcaster-columnist said that the newspaper where his columns were printed will be shouldering the bail amount of P180,000 in total for the four counts of libel.
After this, Nalzaro said he will be filing a motion to consolidate the four cases to one sala. He would also be filing a petition for review before the Department of Justice (DOJ) “hoping and praying to reverse the findings of the prosecutor.”
On January 15, 2019, Ramon Miguel Osmeña, more commonly known as Miguel, filed the libel charges against Nalzaro at the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor and it was successfully lodged with the approval of the City Prosecutor Liceria Lofranco-Rabillas.
In the complaint, Miguel said that Nalzaro allegedly maligned him on two of Nalzaro’s columns published in one of Cebu’s daily newspapers dated September 5 and 12, 2018.
In the column entitled “Projecting a Poor Image,” dated September 5, 2018, Nalzaro stated that Miguel was “reportedly” a stakeholder of an “illegal” butane cannister-refilling business allegedly owned by an ally of Mayor Osmeña.
In another article entitled “Mikakak Man Diay” dated September 12, 2018, Nalzaro once again insinuated Miguel’s involvement to the illegal business.
Nalzaro is facing two counts of libel for the printed articel and two counts of cyberlibel for the online versions of these articles.
The camp of Osmeña told CDN Digital that they are confident that the case is “airtight” and the broadcast-columnist will be prosecuted.
“We will prosecute the cases to the fullest extent we can,” said Lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan of SALiGAL Law, the legal counsel of the Osmeña camp, in a text message. /bmjo