[Chiquita Secrets Revealed - Cincinnati Enquirer 3may98]
FOUR journalists and a University of the Philippines professor, who are facing libel charges filed by Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr., have been arrested by operatives of the Central Police District.
Leti Boniol, deskman of the Philippine Daily Inquirer; Danilo Mariano, Today columnist and editor of the ABS-CBN News.Com; Carlos Conde, New York Times correspondent; Ilang-Ilang Quijano, Pinoy Weekly reporter; and her father Dr. Romeo Quijano, a UP Manila College of Medicine professor, posted bail of P10,000 each at the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.
The charges stemmed from articles and columns written by the respondents alleging that the pesticides used by the banana plantation of Lorenzo’s Lapanday Agricultural Corp. (Ladeco) badly affected the nearby community in Digos, Davao del Sur.
Based on the articles and columns published in 2000, ground and aerial spraying of the pesticides reportedly caused health problems among 700 residents in Barangay Kamukhaan, Digos. Quijano, who did a fact-finding mission in Digos, was the source of the articles.
Quijano, the president of the Pesticide Action Network Philippines, and his daughter also wrote a story published in the now-defunct The Philippine Post entitled “Poisoned Lives” in March 2000.
Ladeco allegedly used the banned substances Furadan, Paraquat, Vondozeb, Maneb and Glyphosate in the banana plantation. The US Environmental Protection Agency had declared these pesticides as human carcinogens.
On Monday afternoon, Senior Police Officer 3 Diosdado Roldan, Police Officer 3 Gienvenido Fabro and Police Officer 2 Nelson Cruz of the CPD Warrant Section served the warrant for the arrest of Dr. Quijano issued by Judge Virginia Hofilena-Europo of the Davao City Regional Trial Court on August 20 at the Quijano’s office in UP Manila.
His daughter immediately surrendered to the CPD headquarters at Camp Karingal. After 15 minutes, they went to the Quezon City Hall of Justice to post bail, according to Senior Police Officer 1 Ruben Salvo, a desk officer of the section.
Boniol, Mariano and Conde yielded themselves before the Quezon City Hall Detachment on Tuesday morning and posted bail afterwards.
The Davao City Prosecutor’s Office had already dismissed the libel case filed by Ladeco in August 2000, but Justice Undersecretary Merceditas Gutierrez reversed the order on July 4.
source: http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2003/sept/10/top_stories/20030910top10.html 10sep03
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