News reporters became the subject of the news over the weekend when ABS-CBN entertainment reporter Gretchen Fullido filed a sexual harassment case against her colleagues at the television network.
The news first broke out when Fullido’s lawyer, Marvin Aceron, posted a press release on his Facebook account on Friday, where he announced that Fullido had just filed charges of sexual harassment against Cheryl C. Favila, a former ABS-CBN executive; and Maricar P. Asprec, a segment producer working for the network.
But what got tongues really wagging was that Fullido, who appears in TV Patrol, also lodged libel charges against veteran newscaster Ces Drilon, known for being a women’s rights advocate; and Marie Lozano, another ABS-CBN reporter who also covers the entertainment beat.
Some observers think this could spark the Philippines’ own #MeToo moment, the international campaign that had women standing up against their abusers.
Fullido alleges that Favila and Asprec “sent her text messages that were loaded with sexual innuendos, which amounted to requests for sexual favors.”
When Fullido denied giving the alleged favors, the “two retaliated and made it difficult for her to work as a reporter and news anchor for TV Patrol.”
This allegedly went on for three years.
ABS-CBN conducted an internal investigation into the allegations. In July this year, it dismissed Fullido’s sexual harassment case but found Favila guilty of gross misconduct which led to her termination from the network.
ABS-CBN released a statement stating that they respect Fullido’s decision to file a case.
On the other hand, Drilon and Lozano, along with an ABS-CBN executive named Venancio Borromeo, were sued for libel for allegedly besmirching Fullido’s “reputation when they stated that she (Fullido) filed a similar sexual harassment complaint against Favila and Asprec with ABS-CBN management to leverage her employment status with ABS-CBN.”
The press release zeroed in on Drilon. Fullido alleges that Drilon “resorted to victim shaming and imputed statements that Fullido deserved to be harassed, since Fullido allegedly, was willing to wear a bikini with an inflatable pool with bubbles to shove up the ratings of TV Patrol.”
My statement on the libel case filed by Gretchen Fullido. pic.twitter.com/DTHCDIYoCm
— Ces Oreña-Drilon (@cesdrilon) October 6, 2018
The day after the press release appeared, Drilon issued her own statement about the case, wherein she said that as a former victim of sexual harassment, it was “unthinkable” for her to victim-shame Fullido.
She said she was “asked to testify in an internal, confidential investigation into Gretchen’s [Fullido] allegations and some of what I said during the investigation has been distorted.”
She also said she’s considering “legal proceedings against these false allegations.”
Making things more complicated is the involvement of Evalyn Ursua, the lawyer representing Favila and Asprec.
Ursua is one of the country’s leading feminist lawyers and first gained fame when she represented a Filipino woman known to the public as “Nicole” (not her real name) in the controversial Subic rape case involving a US Marine.
In a strongly-worded statement posted on her Facebook account, Ursua alleges that Fullido’s case was a “baseless charge of sexual harassment” and that “the text messages that Fullido used as evidence were distorted and maliciously taken out of their conversation threads.”
Ursua slammed Fullido’s case and said it was “a classic example of discrimination against LGBTQ individuals and gender stereotyping against them in matters of sexuality.”
A few hours later, Ursua shared a link to a Facebook group for Asprec and Favila’s supporters. The cover image showed that she had no qualms calling Fullido out: “#NOTOFAKEMETOO.”
The latest development in the case is Fullido’s short statement, posted again by her lawyer on Facebook, where she asked her to supporters to “pray” for her.
Lozano and Borromeo have remained mum on the issue. Lozano, a reporter and social media influencer, has noticeably disabled comments on her Instagram account.
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