TWO Cebu city prosecutors said they would work without bias in reviewing two libel suits filed against broadcaster-columnist Bobby Nalzaro by former congressman Tomas Osmeña.
Assistant City Prosecutors Gandhi Truya and Maria Theresa Casiño denied the motion for inhibition filed by Nalzaro.
His doubts of possible bias were brushed off as “speculations, conjectures, and paranoia.”
“Submitting to the pressures and undue influence that Bobby Nalzaro exerted through his column in local papers and over the radio will undermine the independence of the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office which I swore to uphold,” said Truya, who heads a three-member panel.
Casiño said she doesn’t personally know the parties in the case neither has she dealt with them before.
Nalzaro, known as “Super Bob” in the Visayas, anchors the nightly news program 24 Oras Central Visayas in GMA 7 and a morning radio program over radio station dySS, where he is station manager. He also writes an opinion column in Sun.Star Cebu and Sun Star Super Balita.
Truya said the tri-media personality should just answer the libel charge “then we can move forward.”
“The dispute is between him and Osmeña. We are not part of it. All we do, as prosecutors, is to resolve the cases brought before us,” Truya said.
Nalzaro has until Feb. 10 to file his counter-affidavit.
He earlier asked both to inhibit to remove any “cloud of doubt” of bias.
Truya’s father, former Provincial Prosecutor Crispulo Truya, was suspended for one year by the Department of Justice over a case 20 years ago when Nalzaro wrote that he had extorted money from a detainee’s mother.
In Casiño’s case, the broadcaster said she was offered P300,000 as financial assistance by Truya, when she was shot and seriously injured by a disgruntled Canadian litigant inside the Palace of Justice two years ago.
Sought for comment, Nalzaro said he reserves the right to appeal the matter to the Regional State Prosecutor or the Department of Justice.
“I just want to clarify that, contrary to the claim of Truya, that I’m using my media platforms (radio and print) to exert undue influence and pressures on them, I’m just informing the public about the circumstances of my motion. In fact, I was appealing to them. Is an appeal exerting pressure on them?,” he said in a text message to CDN.
“I have enough basis why I want them out. In fact, I’m protetcing their credibility because if they render a decision against my favor, it will be tainted with malice. The public will say ‘Ah that’s because Truya is mad of Super Bob because of what happened to his father.’ On the part of Casiño, people will say ‘Ah, that’s because she received assistance.’ In the process, both prosecutors will lose their credibility.”
“Og dili madala, ihangad nalang nako sa langit. Hinaut malamdagan sila. (But if I won’t be able to convince the fiscals, I’ll have to entrust the matter to heaven. I hope they will be enlightened),” he said.
Truya said he would handle the case no differently from other cases raffled to them. Casiño said she only knew of the “outpouring of support after nearly two weks stay at the intensive care unit.”
“To use that as a sole ground for inhibition is tantamount of reliving the trauma and depriving her the opportunity to move forward and perform the work she whole-heartedly loves, free from any suspicion of bias or partiality,” she said.
Sought for comment, Osmeña said “Nalzaro thinks he can bully prosecutors. I think he will try anything to avoid being scrutinized in court,” said Osmeña in a text message to CDN.
Osmena sued the broadcaster for writing in an Oct. 25 Sun.Star Cebu column that the former congressman fabricated charges against Cebu City Treasurer Diwa Cuevas to sabotage the administration of Mayor Michael Rama over financial lapses noted by auditors in 2012 and 2013.
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