The Philippine Online Chronicles

ANC has reported over its Facebook page that the wire-tapping case by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) against broadcast journalist Cheche Lazaro has been dismissed.

ANC posted, “From Cheche Lazaro: Wire-tapping case against me by GSIS just dismissed a few minutes ago! Glad it is over! Judge Yu of Pasay Municipal Trial Court (MTC) ruling was swift and decisive.”

Danni Lim also posted on the "Support Cheche Lazaro" Facebook page, “To all who have supported [Lazaro], THANK YOU.”

“I am pleased to announce that all charges by Valencerina were dropped! There is still the issue of teachers fairly receiving their money. Still looking into the new administration and their plans on alleviating this issue,” the post added, referring to the issue of GSIS’s Premium Based Policy over which criminal charges were filed against Lazaro.

Lazaro fell under fire when GSIS Vice President and head of its Public Relations and Communications Office Ella E. Valencerina filed charges against her for allegedly illegally wire-tapping a phone conversation between them and then airing parts of it on her TV program Probe.

According to Valencerina, Lazaro called her on November 11, 2008 asking her to reconsider GSIS’s earlier refusal to be interviewed on Probe about the Premium Based Policy, which was a topic of the Probe November 12 episode.

Valencerina said that she politely declined due to GSIS’s history of receiving unfavorable media coverage from Lopez-owned media entities such as ABS-CBN, which broadcasts Probe. At the time, the Premium Based Policy was also the subject of pending cases in the Court of Appeals and Office of the Ombudsman.

“As such, GSIS and its officials are not allowed to publicly discuss the Premium Based Policy lest I or any officials of the GSIS be the subject of sanctions from the said court or investigative body,” Valencerina said in a later statement.

The following episode of Probe, however, featured footage of Lazaro talking on the phone, with Valencerina’s voice on the other end. According to Valencerina, this was a blatant violation of Republic Act 4200, also known as the Anti-Wiretapping Act.

“When I talked to her over the phone, I requested that our conversation be not recorded,” she added, although Lazaro would later claim that she had explicitly told Valencerina that the conversation would be recorded.

Lazaro faced criminal charges and a warrant of arrest, for which she paid a P12,500 bail in May 2009 at the Pasay City Regional Trial Court.

Lazaro also released a statement the same month, saying, “It is mind-boggling why I am being singled out for prosecution for following the tenets of responsible journalism. If raising the concerns of underpaid public school teachers deprived of their benefits by a publicly accountable government institution and giving my accuser the airtime to explain her boss's side of the story are now considered crimes under our laws, then I plead guilty.”

“This is a small price to pay for bringing a perfectly legitimate public interest issue out in the open,” she added. “Probe will not be intimidated into submission. I just wish my accuser will play fair and hire private lawyers instead of using government lawyers (from the GSIS), whose salaries are incidentally paid for by, among others, the teachers shortchanged by the questionable policy of the GSIS and private citizens like me who pay taxes.”