Broadcaster denies maligning Osmeña
Nalzaro claims he was merely exercising his journalistic duty
BROADCASTER Pablito "Bobby" Nalzaro denied he maligned former Cebu City mayor and congressman Tomas Osmeña, arguing that his column was written solely in response to his “journalistic duty."
Assisted by his lawyer Joan Baron of J.P. Garcia and Associates, Nalzaro yesterday submitted his affidavit to counter Osmeña's libel complaint and maintained he harbored no ill-will or hatred against the complainant.
"I earned my living as a journalist, with the duty, among others, to inform the general public of what is dominantly important. I wrote the article in good faith and based (it) on existing facts that are of public knowledge," read Nalzaro's counter-affidavit.
Members of the Cebu Media Legal Aid (Cemla) accompanied Nalzaro when he submitted his affidavit to the prosecutor's office.
Apart from asking prosecutors to junk the case, Nalzaro also asked Regional State Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane to prohibit Assistant City Prosecutors Gandhi Truya and Maria Theresa Casiño from conducting a preliminary investigation on the case.
Designate
He asked Gubalane to designate a prosecutor either from the offices of the provincial or city prosecutor to investigate and prosecute his libel case.
Nalzaro's motion to designate an acting city prosecutor came after Truya and Casiño denied the broadcaster's motion for voluntary inhibition because they are not prejudiced against him.
In a statement sent to Sun.Star Cebu early this week, Osmeña said, “What's Mr. Nalzaro's defense against my libel suit? He is putting the prosecution on trial.”
“Nalzaro claims that some of the cases I filed against Cebu City Treasurer (Diwa) Cuevas are fabricated. So I sued him for libel. Instead of answering which cases are fabricated, he goes on this diversion of accusing the prosecutors of being biased,” Osmeña said his criticism of his critic.
Nalzaro asked the prosecutors to inhibit because he fears that Truya holds a grudge against him for being instrumen- tal in the filing of a case and subsequent suspension of the fiscal's father more than 20 years ago.
Nalzaro also asked Casiño to exclude herself from the panel because she reportedly received P300,000 as financial assistance from Osmeña when the prosecutor landed in the hospital after she was shot in the line of duty.
Reputation
Osmeña filed last Dec. 14, 2014 two libel complaints against Nalzaro for allegedly besmirching his reputation.
The broadcaster, he said, accused him of fabricating charges when he filed multiple administrative complaints against Cuevas.
Truya and Casiño denied the motion for inhibition.
Nalzaro, a Sun.Star Cebu and SuperBalita columnist, said in his counter-affidavit that his column did not malign Osmeña.
"The column is factual and free of any malicious insinuations, therefore, I would say it is not libelous," he said.
Nalzaro pointed out he used the phrase "fabricated charges" in his column after he read the Commission on Audit (COA) report, which he said would clearly show that Cuevas could be criminally or administratively held liable.
"There was no malice in my use of word "fabricated" because this description was merely based on the COA report, which did not specifically implicate Cuevas," said Nalzaro.
In his 34 years in media, Nalzaro said no libel case against him reached the trial court because of his "constant regard for what is allowed by our laws, rules and jurisprudence."