SURIGAO CITY: DEFEATED governor Lyndon Barbers of Surigao Del Norte recently earned the ire of local media men after he allegedly threatened pointblank a publisher of a local paper.
The subject of Barber’s ire was Roel Catoto, publisher of the Mindanao Enquirer.
Catoto reported the matter to the Surigao City Police where the 21-year old publisher stated there that he went to the Provincial Capitol last July 6 to visit newly elected Gov. Robert Ace Barbers.
“I was with my classmate in high school--Carlos Zapanta Jr. I talked with the secretary of Governor Barbers, named Pem,” he further narrated.
“I saw Lyndon talking with someone on the nook of the office where I and Carlos, together with other employees and guests, were around. I saw a woman gave a gift to Lyndon.
“After they finished talking, I greeted Lyndon with “Belated Happy Birthday, Gob”. He retorted by saying: ‘Waya pa gani ako birthday.’ Then the people around were laughing after hearing my short conversation with Lyndon. I asked him when will be his birthday. He never replied and, instead, he went to the room where his brother held office. I felt a little bit ashamed.”
“Minutes later, Lyndon Barbers came out from the room and asked me: “Mindanao Enquirer”? I replied: Yes, Sir.
Accordingly, Lyndon Barbers remarked by saying in a menacing voice: “Mindanao Enquirer. Tiwasan ko iton Mindanao Enquirer, tiwasan ko, tiwasan ko, tiwasan ko. Lang-a si Rod Catoto tiwasan ko.” Lyndon then went back to the room where he came.
“I was terribly shocked and afraid after hearing those threats. Minutes later, I and my companion went outside the said office of the secretary and reported the incident to my father Rod Catoto.”
In a meeting with other members of the press, Catoto said he was surprised why Lyndon would vent his ire at the Mindanao Enquirer since they could not recall having written something unpleasant in the newspaper that would provoke Lyndon to threaten them.
With Lyndon’s threat, he added they in the newspaper are willing to offer their lives for the supreme interest of upholding the true freedom of the press.
Catoto, dubbed as one of the youngest publisher in the country, is a journalism graduate and an organizer of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), University of the Visayas Chapter, Cebu City.
He was a photo-journalist of The Freeman in Cebu City from 2005 up to 2006. He is a member of the National Un
ion of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP).
In commenting about the incident, Eugenio Lira, Jr., a veteran newspaper editor and broadcaster, recently made an unsolicited advice for Lyndon Barbers.
Lira told Misamis Probe that: “Lyndon should seek redress from a court of justice if he believed he had a legitimate cause of action.
The Barbers family is a close friend of Lira, with Ace and Lyndon being godfathers or “ninongs” during the baptism of Lira’s daughter.
“It’s better and proper for my Lyndon to concretize his action and not to resort to making senseless threats. If he thinks he has a legitimate cause of action, it would be admirable for him to bring the matter to a court of justice. He must show the public that he has 'the balls' or guts to bring the matter aboveboard in a transparent, fair and impartial venue,” Lira said.
“Unless he does the same, Surigaonons would continue to nurture the belief that what Lyndon did was a cowardly or unmanly act of a sore loser in the past congressional election who may have falsely thought that his sheer “jumbo” size and threatening words were enough to suppress the freedom of the press,” he added.
As this developed, mediamen from the print and broadcast in this city condemned the former governor “for his oppressive act in threatening publisher Roel Catoto.”
Radio commentator Jun Parada said Lyndon’s demeanor was “unprofessional and unbecoming of a former governor.”
Tony Esperame, of the Surigao Newswatch, just laughed off Lyndon’s threats and likened it to that of a spoiled brat who would use intimidation just to get what he wanted.
The subject of Barber’s ire was Roel Catoto, publisher of the Mindanao Enquirer.
Catoto reported the matter to the Surigao City Police where the 21-year old publisher stated there that he went to the Provincial Capitol last July 6 to visit newly elected Gov. Robert Ace Barbers.
“I was with my classmate in high school--Carlos Zapanta Jr. I talked with the secretary of Governor Barbers, named Pem,” he further narrated.
“I saw Lyndon talking with someone on the nook of the office where I and Carlos, together with other employees and guests, were around. I saw a woman gave a gift to Lyndon.
“After they finished talking, I greeted Lyndon with “Belated Happy Birthday, Gob”. He retorted by saying: ‘Waya pa gani ako birthday.’ Then the people around were laughing after hearing my short conversation with Lyndon. I asked him when will be his birthday. He never replied and, instead, he went to the room where his brother held office. I felt a little bit ashamed.”
“Minutes later, Lyndon Barbers came out from the room and asked me: “Mindanao Enquirer”? I replied: Yes, Sir.
Accordingly, Lyndon Barbers remarked by saying in a menacing voice: “Mindanao Enquirer. Tiwasan ko iton Mindanao Enquirer, tiwasan ko, tiwasan ko, tiwasan ko. Lang-a si Rod Catoto tiwasan ko.” Lyndon then went back to the room where he came.
“I was terribly shocked and afraid after hearing those threats. Minutes later, I and my companion went outside the said office of the secretary and reported the incident to my father Rod Catoto.”
In a meeting with other members of the press, Catoto said he was surprised why Lyndon would vent his ire at the Mindanao Enquirer since they could not recall having written something unpleasant in the newspaper that would provoke Lyndon to threaten them.
With Lyndon’s threat, he added they in the newspaper are willing to offer their lives for the supreme interest of upholding the true freedom of the press.
Catoto, dubbed as one of the youngest publisher in the country, is a journalism graduate and an organizer of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), University of the Visayas Chapter, Cebu City.
He was a photo-journalist of The Freeman in Cebu City from 2005 up to 2006. He is a member of the National Un
ion of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP).In commenting about the incident, Eugenio Lira, Jr., a veteran newspaper editor and broadcaster, recently made an unsolicited advice for Lyndon Barbers.
Lira told Misamis Probe that: “Lyndon should seek redress from a court of justice if he believed he had a legitimate cause of action.
The Barbers family is a close friend of Lira, with Ace and Lyndon being godfathers or “ninongs” during the baptism of Lira’s daughter.
“It’s better and proper for my Lyndon to concretize his action and not to resort to making senseless threats. If he thinks he has a legitimate cause of action, it would be admirable for him to bring the matter to a court of justice. He must show the public that he has 'the balls' or guts to bring the matter aboveboard in a transparent, fair and impartial venue,” Lira said.
“Unless he does the same, Surigaonons would continue to nurture the belief that what Lyndon did was a cowardly or unmanly act of a sore loser in the past congressional election who may have falsely thought that his sheer “jumbo” size and threatening words were enough to suppress the freedom of the press,” he added.
As this developed, mediamen from the print and broadcast in this city condemned the former governor “for his oppressive act in threatening publisher Roel Catoto.”
Radio commentator Jun Parada said Lyndon’s demeanor was “unprofessional and unbecoming of a former governor.”
Tony Esperame, of the Surigao Newswatch, just laughed off Lyndon’s threats and likened it to that of a spoiled brat who would use intimidation just to get what he wanted.
For his part, Nestor Guballa, a vocal media practitioner from DXRS, appealed for the public’s moral support particularly in denouncing the oppressive act of Lyndon saying the same was not just an ordinary threat to press freedom but an explicit and daring threat against democracy in this part of the country.