NTC padlocks FM station, chief exec officer faces 200 libel cases

By ELDIE S. AGUIRRE,
Digos Bureau Chief

DIGOS CITY –– The National Telecommuni-cations Commission (NTC) padlocked 97.5 MUEWS FM, a radio station based in the city for operating with-out the required license and approved provisional au-thority.

Muews FM listed under Sagay Broadcasting Corpoation was closed as res-ponse to the complaint filed by another broadcaster Maria Ana Sumatra, also the private secretary to the governor accusing the said radio station for operating without pertinent docu-ments to go on air since it started it broadcast more than two years ago.

Gamaliel Cordoba, NTC Commissioner said the received the complaint of Sumatra through an endorsement of the Presi-dential Action Center dated January 29 on July 7.

Arvin Malaza, aka ‘Jun Blanco’ Muews’ chief exe-cutive officer was not around when NTC person-nel along with other law enforcement officers enforced the cease and desist order from NTC-Manila.

They successfully imple-mented the closure order at the Muews Radio main office at the ground floor of Castillon Building lo-cated at the corners of Lim and Magsaysay Streets. The remote transmitter and its antenna stationed at the hills of Barangay Soong was also cordoned by the authorities.

Meanwhile, Malaza a hard-hitting broadcaster is also facing at least 200 libel cases that former Digos City Mayor Arsenio Latasa slapped against him for repeatedly besmirching his reputation for several days through his 3-hour pro-gram.

Malaza has not yet issued any public state-ment since the closure of his radio station and the bulk of libel cases slapped against him by the former mayor.

Latasa in a phone inter-view said the 200 libel cases that has been filed in court was based on Malaza’s statements while handling his program since August 26.

“I still has a lot of libel cases coming in which is now in the hands of my lawyer. As I promised, Arvin Malaza aka ‘Jun Blanco’ will have his day in court for maligning me through his program. If I need to file a thousand libel charges against him, I will do it for I wanted those issues to be legally examined by a competent court of law,” Latasa said.