QC judge applies "CPR" on PCIJ blog

(BUMPED to the top of this blog.)

Ah, the Arroyo administration is testing the waters again to see if they can silence the PCIJ, just like when Mike Arroyo and Efraim Genuino intimidated GMA7 into censoring PROBE team's report on corruption at PAGCOR.

From the PCIJ:

IN compliance with the order of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC), the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism has removed from this blog a post, dated August 12, 2005, describing the background and credentials of Jonathan Tiongco, the audio expert presented the same day by Environment Secretary Michael Defensor in order to question the authenticity of the "Hello Garci" recording.

The PCIJ was served the temporary restraining order (TRO) today after the court granted the request of Tiongco’s wife, Rona, who said that the PCIJ blog post was an intrusion into "my private life and happy 12-year marriage with my husband" and a "grave violation of my rights and those of my minor children."

In issuing the TRO, Quezon City RTC Presiding Judge Ralph S. Lee said that it had not yet ruled on the merits of Mrs. Tiongco’s allegations, but that an order removing the blog post was "the safer and more prudent recourse in order to safeguard and balance conflicting rights and interests of the parties/litigants."

The court also banned the PCIJ, for the 20-day duration of the TRO, from "broadcasting, publishing or posting or causing to broadcast, publish, or post articles and statements similar and related to, or connected and in conjunction with," that blog post. It is for this reason that we cannot repeat the facts about Tiongco that we had revealed in our blog post, nor can we say what Mrs. Tiongco found so offensive in it. (That post, however, is cached in Google and can be downloaded from the Google website, which is not covered by this court order.)

This is the first legal action, and the first TRO, issued against a blog in the Philippines.

UNBELIEVABLE!!! READ THE WHOLE EFFING THING!

Just like to highlight this too:

The PCIJ lawyers — the Yorac Arroyo Chua Caedo & Coronel Law Firm — argued in a hearing on October 26 that Mrs. Tiongco had failed to establish any actual injury that would result if the PCIJ blog post, which was on this site the past six weeks, were not removed. Moreover, Mrs. Tiongco herself, the lawyers said, presented the police dossier on her husband, which was the basis of the PCIJ article.

Accurate naman ang nasa report ng PCIJ ah. THERE WERE CRIMINAL CHARGES FILED AGAINST TIONGCO. Ginamit pa ng PCIJ na basis yung dossier na i-prinisenta ni Mrs. Tiongco. PCIJ was just reporting the facts on Tiongco.

At basahin nyo ng mabuti yung complaint ni Mrs. Tiongco. She said the Tiongco post of PCIJ was:

an intrusion into "my private life and happy 12-year marriage with my husband" and a "grave violation of my rights and those of my minor children."

She didn't say the PCIJ report was inaccurate, only that it was "invading their privacy." Obviously, they're copying Iggy Arroyo's "right to privacy" defense, no?

Well, Boo Hoo. Your husband lost his privacy the moment he presented himself as a so called "audio expert" and attempted to obstruct justice ala Ignacio Bunye. In my eyes, Jonathan Tiongco became another "Ador Mawanay" or a Mary "Rosebud" Ong--a gov't stooge/attack dog against Arroyo's critics.

This is also the same guy who said the opposition POISONED FPJ raw. LMAO!

THE "audio expert" who Environment Secretary Michael Defensor said had found that the "Hello Garci" tapes were spliced yesterday filed charges of conspiracy to commit sedition, insurrection and obstruction of justice against two senators, two congressmen, a former Cabinet secretary and two jueteng witnesses before the justice department.

The DOJ did not accept the complaint, saying it would refer Jonathan Tiongco’s complaint to the Manila Prosecutor’s Office.

In his five-page affidavit, Tiongco accused Senators Panfilo Lacson and Jinggoy Estrada, House minority leader Francis Escudero, Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla, former Agrarian Reform Secretary Horacio "Boy" Morales, and jueteng witnesses Sandra Cam and Boy Mayor of conspiring to bring down the Arroyo adminsitration.

"I would have just kept quiet pero sobra na sila. After aiding Secretary Defensor to expose anomalies found in the Garci tapes, Sen. Lacson ungratefully made several libelous statements against me, like besmirching my family’s reputation by calling me ‘may sayad’ or retarded, and that I am a witness for sale," he said.

Tiongco said he had to break his silence on the "multi-faceted operations intended to unlawfully oust the President before the end of this year" after his father, a lawyer, suffered a stroke when he read Lacson’s statements in the papers.

Tiongco said he used to support President Joseph Estrada and Lacson. He said his association with Estrada started during the 1998 presidential campaign.

In 2002, he said that on Remulla’s orders he would help Lacson in "covert" operations against the Arroyo government. He did not elaborate.

In January 2004, he said Remulla called him up for another operation to help in the campaign of Lacson and Fernando Poe Jr. He said Remulla even endorsed him to Morales, then chief strategist of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, who became his superior.

Before filing his complaint with the DOJ, Tiongco said in an interview that contrary to the claims of the St. Luke’s Hospital, Poe did not die of aneurism but was poisoned by some members of the opposition.

Somebody from Mandaluyong Mental Hospital needs to check if there's a missing patient named Jonathan Tiongco. LOL!!!

More here from the STAR:

MANILA, August 18, 2005 (STAR) By Jose Rodel Clapano - He’s no Jonathan Swift, but self-declared audio expert Jonathan Tiongco has tales of his own to tell.

Among them: Fernando Poe Jr. did not die of a stroke but was poisoned.

Tiongco also alleged yesterday that former senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan ran away with the P40-million budget for Poe’s "Bantay Balota" during the late actor’s presidential campaign last year.

Read the whole thing.

He was also the one responsible for coming up with the bail money to free terror suspect Tyrone del Rosario Santos. More here from Philippine Commentary.

And this from Sunstar:

Babao earlier admitted that he attended the court proceedings on Santos' petition for bail but only to cover the event. He identified known audio expert, Jonathan Tiongco, as the one who paid the bail.

He insisted that he did not take part in raising the amount and did not extend any help to free Santos.

ABS-CBN management said it is convinced that Babao did not pay the bail following the confession of the Isafp that they have no direct proof against the journalist. Last Thursday, both Babao and the television network demanded a public apology from Malacañang and the Isafp for "allegedly maligning the reputation of the broadcast journalist."

Jonathan Tiongco himself also filed a petition for a TRO and a libel case vs. PCIJ and Ang See back in August, pero mukhang mahina ang kaso niya.

It was his wife that succeeded in getting that TRO vs. PCIJ by using the "right to privacy" line. Man, maybe Scooter Libby's wife can use that same tactic too, para matigil na ang mga negative reports about his husband on the Plamegate. LOL.

But even back in this Aug. 23, 2005 article by Manila Times, may napansin ako sa sinabi ni Jonathan Tiongco:

In his three-page complaint-affidavit, Tiongco said the reports on his alleged criminal cases ranging from grave threats to murder were "not only accurate but [also] false.

The article, he said, had no other purpose but to destroy his good name.

In his complaint, he neither confirmed nor denied the criminal cases filed against him, saying he was protected by his constitutional rights to privacy and presumption of innocence.

Tiongco said PCIJ lied, but PCIJ was just reporting what was on Tiongco's police rap sheet.

If Tiongco is claiming na peke yung laman ng police dossier, then he should file charges agaisnt the PNP for "defamation of character" too, no? LMAO!

But he won't confirm or deny the criminal cases filed against him. Tee hee.

Eniwey, back to the TRO on PCIJ:

The PCIJ lawyers also argued that all the facts and allegations on Tiongco reported in the PCIJ blog were also reported in other websites, by major dailies, and by the broadcast media immediately after the congressional hearing in May 2005 (where Tiongco opposed the confirmation of Angelo Reyes as secretary of interior and local governments) and again in August, after he was presented as an audio expert by Defensor. But, the PCIJ memorandum pointed out, the Tiongcos didn’t file cases or ask for TROs against these media organizations.

Kaya kayo ang unang tinarget ng admin ay dahil isang "maliit" na media organization lang kayo. If they're successful in silencing or intimidating you guys, isusunod nila ang Malaya, probably. And remember, ISAFP declared PCIJ as "enemies of the state" long before the GLORIAGATE controversy exploded.

And memo to Jonathan Tiongco, once the facts about your sleazy background is out on the internet, hindi mo na pwedeng mabawi yan.

You can't turn back the clock. Once the genie is out of the bottle, mahirap na siyang ikulong ulit sa bote.

Here's the deleted PCIJ post from google and yahoo cache.

UDPATE: Will bloggers get clobbered in the PHilippines?

Related posts:

- Jonathan Tiongco
- Mukhang may sayad ito, wawa naman.
- Jonathan Tiongco, a terrorist coddler?

UPDATE: Screw the TRO, I'll post it here. Come and get me coppers!!!

Mike Defensor’s expert
August 12, 2005 @ 6:00 pm ·
Posted by Vinia Datinguinoo
Filed under In the News

WHEN Sec. Mike Defensor introduced his audio expert, Jonathan Tiongco, to the media this morning, he took pains emphasizing that it was Tiongco who had vehemently opposed the appointment of Angelo Reyes to the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

By pointing this out, Defensor wanted it known that no one could accuse Tiongco of being a mercenary; the guy had, in fact, objected to a key Cabinet appointment made by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and he is credible. He is a sound engineer schooled in Japan with some 12 years of experience in digital audio engineering.

But a dossier from the Philippine National Police (PNP) shows Tiongco has a checkered past as it lists a string of criminal cases against him, ranging from grave threats to murder.

And for anti-crime advocate Tessie Ang-See, Tiongco’s credibility is suspect. Ang-See told PCIJ that in March 2004, Tiongco approached her to ask for her support in the cases against Reyes, who was then anti-kidnapping czar. Reyes was the subject of criminal and administrative cases filed in the Ombudsman for, among others, illegal detention, multiple murder, kidnapping, and grave coercion. These charges stemmed from the kidnappings in late 2003 of two Chinese-Filipinos: two-year-old Gian Jethro Chua and corporate executive Betty Chua Sy.

To convince her, Ang-See said, Tiongco showed a photograph of Gian Jethro’s kidnapper who he claimed was a close-in bodyguard of Reyes. He also gave her a video of the crime scene where a bank robber was killed, alleging that it was a rubout and that Reyes had a hand in it. The purpose, Ang See said, was to show Reyes’s alleged involvement in kidnapping and robbery cases.

But when Ang-See had these independently examined, she was told that these were altered. Ang-See said no to Tiongco’s request for her to support the cases against Reyes.

After she refused, Ang-See said, Tiongco began sending her threats through SMS. This was also the time, according to Ang-See, when she was included as one of the respondents in the supplemental case filed against Reyes regarding the case of kidnap victim Sy. (That case has since been dismissed.)

Early this year, when the Commission on Appointments was deliberating on Reyes’s DILG appointment, some members of the body also expressed doubts about Tiongco’s credibility. Sen. Dick Gordon said the CA had gathered documents showing Tiongco’s string of criminal cases and his opposition to Reyes’s appointment should simply be thrown out.

According to the PNP dossier, Jonathan Mallorca Tiongco, 35, had 11 criminal cases either pending in or resolved by various courts in Iloilo, Pampanga, and different cities in Metro Manila as of 2003. The cases include murder and frustrated murder, homicide, illegal possession of firearm, carnapping, grave threat, and estafa.

Six of the cases were dismissed by the courts either for lack of interest on the part of the complainants or after Tiongco secured a settlement. He was acquitted in one case; one case was archived after police failed to locate Tiongco. As of 2003, three cases were still being heard.

Tiongco was born in Jaro, Iloilo and has known addresses in Fairview, Quezon City and San Fernando, Pampanga. He has four children, two each with his two spouses. The police know him to have several aliases: Jaytee, JT, Jeff, Jonathan Monarca Tiongco, and John Thomas Mendoza Tiongco.

The following is the PNP’s summary of Tiongco’s criminal cases:

1. Homicide, Pasay City, 1997. Tiongco was accused of shooting a barangay tanod who had responded to an altercation between the suspect and another man.
Status: Ongoing trial.

2. Multiple attempted murder, Iloilo City, 1996. Tiongco was charged with shooting three men. Police say one of the three men was a barangay captain who had interceded on behalf of a family with whom Tiongco’s own family were involved in a land dispute.
Status: Ongoing trial.

3. Murder, three counts, and frustrated murder, Iloilo City, 1994. Tiongco and his co-accused were charged with shooting four individuals, killing three of them. He was finally arrested in 2002.
Status: Tiongco was acquitted.

4. Violation of R.A. 6539 (Anti-carnapping Law), Angeles City, Pampanga, 2001. Tiongco and two companions were apprehended by city police while in possession of a car not registered in any of their names. A month earlier the theft was reported to the police.
Status: Dismissed.

5. Violation of the gun ban provisions of the Omnibus Election Code, San Fernando, Pampanga, 2001. Tiongco was arrested after brandishing a handgun in an altercation with the complainant while the gun ban was in force during the election period.
Status: Ongoing trial.

6. Violation of PD 1866 (Illegal possession of firearm and ammunition), San Fernando, Pampanga, 2001. This charge stemmed from the same incident described in #5, for which he was sued for violating the election gun ban.
Status: Dismissed.

7. Grave threat, San Fernando, Pampanga, 2001. This charge involved the same incident in #5.
Status: Settled, then dismissed.

8. Violation of PD 1866 (Illegal possession of firearm and ammunition), Iloilo City. The dossier does not have details of this case.
Status: Dismissed.

9. Grave threat, Pasay City, 1997. This involved the same incident in #1.
Status: Dimissed.

10. Violation of BP 22 (Bouncing checks law), San Juan, Metro Manila, 1992.
Status: Archived after Tiongco was not found by the police.

11. Swindling/Estafa, Makati City, 1993. Tiongco was accused of failing to remit some P54,800 in company funds.
Status: Settled, then dismissed.