Ex-Iloilo Official Serves Jail Time After Charged for Libelous Post Against Sen. Franklin Drilon
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has arrested an ex-Iloilo official after being charged for his libelous post against Senator Franklin Drilon.
After being convicted in a libel lawsuit filed by Senator Franklin Drilon, an Iloilo native, former provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada was detained by the NBI and will begin serving time in prison. Mejorada’s partner confirmed that he was arrested in a Facebook post on November 22, 2021, by the NBI Special Operations Group.
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Mejorada’s conviction was based on his blog, social media posts, and newspaper articles accusing Drilon of sponsoring questionable projects in the city and province of Iloilo while Benigno was still President. The Iloilo Convention Center and the Iloilo Circumferential Road were built by S. Aquino III.
In 2017, the Regional Trial Court (RTC-Branch 118) of Pasay City found Mejorada guilty of libel for the first time. He was also sentenced to a minimum of two years and a maximum of four years in jail by the court.
Mejorada attempted to have the decision overturned, but in 2018, the Court of Appeals (CA) confirmed the lower court’s verdict. The Supreme Court upheld Mejorada’s prison sentence in 2019.
Mejorada, a native of the neighboring province of Capiz, previously worked for the Iloilo City newspaper as a reporter and editor. He was the provincial administrator of late Iloilo governor Niel Tupas Sr., a long-time political associate of Drilon’s.
Mejorada, on the other hand, became well-known in both the city and province of Iloilo. In a Senate hearing in 2014, he enraged local citizens by calling Iloilo a “bird’s nest of corruption.”
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