The governor-elect of the province of Cotabato, Philippines barged into a radio station and confronted a journalist about election-related reports published in the latter's paper a few days before the incident.
The governor-elect of the province of Cotabato barged into a radio station in Kidapawan City last 21 May 2013 and confronted a journalist about election-related reports published in the latter’s paper a few days before the incident.
Re-elected governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza went to the dxND-AM newsroom in the afternoon of May 21 and berated journalist Malu Cadelina Manar for her reports on complaints about possible electoral fraud raised by Mendoza’s rival, former Cotabato governor Emmanuel Piñol.
The reports were published in Sun.Star Davao and in MindaNews.com last May 18.
Manar is head of the research department of the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporation (parent company of dxND-AM) and a correspondent for Sun.Star Davao and MindaNews.com.
In a Sun.Star Davao report last May 26, Mendoza was said to have sent a letter to the editor saying that Manar never interviewed her and that Manar’s figures (count of votes) in her report for Sun.Star Davao were wrong.
Mendoza asked Sun.Star Davao to “take appropriate action on the said conduct and actuations of Manar.”
Manar however, in the same e-mail to CMFR, denied any bias against Mendoza and said the figures in her reports were from the Commission on Elections.
“I did not interview her but I have listened to her interview over a local radio station here telling the public that she won (the gubernatorial election) ‘fair and square’,” Manar said.
On 13 May 2013, the Philippines held mid-term elections for the Senate, the House of Representatives, and local government posts. It was the second fully-automated elections in the country’s history.
Kidapawan City is the capital of Cotabato, which is some 1,500 kilometers from Manila.
