THE Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS) has requested a clarification on the tagging of two journalists in Masbate as members of the Communist Party of the Philippines — New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), task force executive director Paul Gutierrez said yesterday.
Broadcasters Benjamin Gigante and Jose Alfaro are also facing murder charges.
Gutierrez said the PTFOMS wants to ensure there is “sufficient basis” to link Gigante and Alfaro to the CPP-NPA, and to the killing of one Richard Bauso on April 6 in Cawayan, Masbate.
He said he sent a formal letter to Office of Provincial Prosecutor of Masbate, headed by Provincial Prosecutor Jeremias Mapula, and sought assurance there was enough case build-up done, as stipulated under of Department Circular 20 (DC20), or the “Policy on Pro-Active Involvement of Prosecutors in Case Build-Up” issued by the Department of Justice, before the filing of murder charges, as well as an official validation from intelligence units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police on the red-tagging of two journalists.
The concerns were raised by the PTFOMS after it found that a local court, on July 26, recalled arrest warrants for Gigante, Alfaro, and three other local journalists in connection with the killing of one Virgil Arriesgado in August 2022.
The charges in both Arriesgado and Bauso cases were prepared Mapula.
“In both incidents, it appears these local media personalities were first accused of being members of the local communist terrorist movement (CPP-NPA) in Masbate before being linked to the murder of the above victims,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said the PTFOMS also wants to ensure that the case of Gigante and Alfar were not a “SLAPP,” or “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” wherein the local journalists are accused of being members of the CPP-NPA after offending some local officials.
“A SLAPP suit is a retaliatory legal act aimed at intimidating and distracting the accused from pursuing his original complaint against his accuser or suppressing his right to free speech and expression,” Gutierrez said.
