MANGYAN DOT NET: Virtual City of Mindorenos!

Philippine Daily Inquirer (First Posted 20:45:00 02/04/2008)

MANILA, Philippines -- A Mindoro-based journalist has filed a petition for a writ of amparo before the Supreme Court to protect himself from attacks by local officials whose alleged corruption he has exposed.

In his petition before the high court filed on Monday, 60-year-old former publisher and radio host Nilo Baculo said Calapan City officials including Mayor Paulino Leachon and Vice Mayor Rafael Infantado, have been harassing and plotting to kill him for his damaging exposés.

The other respondents of Baculo’s petition are City Administrator Antonio Perez; Councilors Allan Mañibo, Teddy Flores and Roberto Concepcion; former councilors Victor Ulayan Jr., Juan Pablo Luna, Federico Cabailo, Benjamin Cacha and Ralph Rojas; former Mayor Carlos Brucal; former Vice Mayor Robert Paras; Governor's Special Action Group head Maximo Evora; and businessman Wilfredo Caballero.

Baculo asked the high court to issue a protection order to keep him from harm.

Baculo said he has been threatened and harassed because of his exposés on the illegal activities in Mindoro, including jueteng (illegal numbers game), child trafficking, murder and fraud.

He also learned in December that a hired gun was ordered to kill him, but the assassin refused to carry out the directive upon learning who the target was. But those who contacted the killer have been looking for a new gun-for-hire, he added.

Quoting the alleged gun-for-hire, Baculo accused Evora of seeking out the killer's services. The hired gun allegedly told him that Evora was in the payroll of Caballero, Mañibo and Perez. But no official police investigation has been done on the threat, he added.

"Over time, to his mounting dismay and much trepidation, he has found himself a target of malicious and baseless criminal accusations, ranging from grave threats subject to a condition for posing as a member of the communist New People's Army and extorting money from businessmen in the city, to criminal charges for attempted rape, which was eventually dismissed for lack of evidence," Baculo’s petition stated.

Baculo said he was earlier jailed in connection with a grave threats charge for which a prosecutor recommended no bail.

The judge eventually set his bail for P300,000, and he was able to raise the amount with the help of his friends, although the effort nearly reduced him to penury.

"Petitioner believes powerful business interests in the city that he had displeased with his critical commentaries were behind his incarceration," the Baculo petition went on.

According to Baculo, his legal woes forced him to close down his newspaper Traveler's News and that he has turned to printing his articles on bond paper, which he multiplies through photocopying machines. He distributes 2,000 to 2,500 copies of his works in a week.

Baculo has also filed an administrative complaint before the high court against Leachon and Infantado for their alleged involvement in passing a resolution approving a contract that gave Perez a P20,000 monthly salary and other benefits.

He said Perez' position could only be filled by a lawyer, and the latter has been barred from signing the roll of attorney's while a case about ghost government transactions in which he was allegedly involved has not been resolved. He has also filed a graft complaint before the Ombudsman against the respondents.

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