Criminal complains have been filed before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office by journalist Raisa E. Robles against senatorial candidate Lorenzo “Larry” G. Gadon.
“Mr. Gadon degraded me to a point that I fear for my personal safety and security in the real world and in the online world, which is basically my workplace as an online freelance journalist,” Robles said in her complaint-affidavit filed last Feb. 4.
She asked the prosecutors to file criminal charges against Gadon for libel under Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code, cyber liber under Republic Act No. 10175, and violation of RA 11313, the Safe Spaces Act which defines “gender-based sexual harassment in streets, public place, online, workplaces, and educational or training institutions.”
Robles said in her affidavit:
“I strongly believe that what Mr. Gadon did was a form of sexual abuse, delivered visually and orally online, and used primarily in this case as a political weapon. It was intended to shred my dignity as a woman, reduce my credibility as a journalist and make me a laughing stock, so that people would not believe what I write and say.
“The video was so appalling and deplorable that on 4 January 2022, the Supreme Court, motu proprio (on its own initiative), placed Atty. Gadon on preventive suspension and issued a show-cause order directing him to show cause why he should not be disbarred for his conduct in the viral video.”
She pointed out that seeing the video was “the only time I was glad my parents - University of the Philippines College of Law professor and former university general counsel Jose F. Espinosa and Gloria Gallego Lamson Espinosa - were both dead.”
“Their health would have been severely compromised had they seen Mr. Gadon’s video,” she said.
She recounted that she started receiving copies of the video last Dec. 13, 2021 from various individuals but it was only on Dec. 20, 2021 that she mustered “the physical and emotional energy to view the entire video clip they sent to me.”
Though she never shared the video to anyone, Robles said “that video of Mr. Gadon easily became viral, and direct messages from social media platforms started pouring in expressing their outrage for Mr. Gadon and sympathy for me.”
She said that Gadon made another video that she saw on social media on Dec. 21, 2021 where he apologized for making the first video against her.
“While he apologized to the ‘kababaihan’ and his party-mates and supporters for his statements in the earlier video, thereby recognizing and admitting that he actually said those mysogynistic words in the video, her never apologized to me,” she lamented.
“Worse, in that video that was uploaded on Facebook on 21 December 2021, which I was able to view the same day from my computer at home, Mr. Gadon publicly and maliciously imputed upon me the derogatory act of being a purveyor of fake news,” she added.
Gadon’s suspension as a lawyer is enforced until lifted by the SC. He has been directed by the SC in a resolution to explain why he should not be disbarred.
In a statement issued last Jan. 4, the SC’s public information office (PIO) said that on Dec. 15, 2021 “a video of Gadon uttering profanities against Robles went viral in social media, where the former appeared exasperated by the fact that Robles called Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ R. Marcos a tax evader.”
The PIO’s statement said “the public has urged the Court and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to discipline Gadon over his latest vulgar rant, saying that Gadon’s actions are not only an insult to Robles, but to the entire legal profession as well.”
The SC took immediate action, it said, and acted on the complaints.
The PIO said that “Gadon had, on previous instances, publicly displayed the same kind of behavior, for which he is currently facing disbarment complaints before the Court and the IBP.”
“In a Resolution issued today, Jan. 4, 2022, the Court En Banc motu proprio treated the matter as a formal administrative complaint for disbarment against Gadon, who was given a non-extendible period of 10 days to file his comment, in consideration of the numerous prior controversies leading to the disbarment cases filed against Gadon, and the most recent viral video where he displayed the same controversial behavior despite previous warnings,” it said.
It said the SC directed its Office of the Bar Confidant to submit an updated list of the pending administrative cases against Gadon within 10 days from receipt of the Resolution, while the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) was required to submit a status report of Gadon’s administrative cases.
The PIO said the SC had previously “penalized Gadon with a three-month suspension in a disbarment case in 2019 for the statements he made about the use of legal remedies as slow and requiring a lot of resources; and the malicious and arrogant language he used against the adverse party and her lawyer.”
In that case, it said “the Court already reminded Gadon to be more wary of his actions and to restrain himself in displaying ill temper and to refrain from using abusive and distasteful language.”
It said the SC had warned that “a repetition of the same or similar act shall be dealt with more severely.”
“But despite such warning, Gadon has continued to display similarly abhorrent behavior, with the viral video against Robles,” it added.