By JIGGER J. JERUSALEM
Correspondent
A COMMENTATOR and a radio station executive, accused of libel by Gingoog Vice Mayor Peter Unabia, turned themselves in to the police in Gingoog City on Monday morning.
Jonas Bustamante, 46, an announcer at the Gingoog-based 98.9 FM Beat Radio, said he and his station manager Eduardo Bacasnot, 48, went to the police station at around 9:15 am this Dec. 2.
“We were not arrested,” said Bustamante. “We went there on our own. We waited for hours before we could be entertained.”
Bustamante said this even as he corrected a police report that referred to him and Bacasnot as “arrested persons.”
He said police officers had been busy attending to other people and their turn came at around 11 am.
Bustamante, however, said Lt. Col. Ariel Pontillas, Gingoog police chief, read to them their warrant of arrest while they posed for a photographer documenting what was taking place.
He said they were later advised by another police officer to go to a local court and post bail.
“We were told to go to court and we did. We went without any police escort,” he said, adding that they were also not in handcuffs at the time that they were at the police station.
Bustamante said he hopes that the police will rectify the report that they were arrested.
He and Bacasnot were charged with four counts of libel based on the complaint of Unabia, a former congressman. Unabia accused Bustamante of maligning him by supposedly linking him to the illegal drug trade.
Bustamante said what he discussed on air was Unabia’s certificate of candidacy in Gingoog City and that he questioned the politician’s residency.
The issue was raised at the height of the campaign period in the run-up to the May elections this year.
After staying for close to two hours at the police station, Bustamante said they proceeded to the Regional Trial Court-10 Branch 27 to post bail.
He said they were supposed to pay P120,000 each for the four counts of libel but added that Judge Giovanni Alfred Navarro granted their petition to reduce bail and were made to pay only P30,000 each.
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