Journalist nabbed in Quezon City

MANILA, Philippines — Veteran journalist Philip Lustre Jr. was arrested in Quezon City yesterday, after a Davao City court issued a warrant of arrest for cyberlibel.

Lustre had just attended the Saturday News Forum at a restaurant when officers from the Quezon City Police District-Kamuning Station 10 approached the 72-year-old journalist and informed him of the warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 10 Judge Retrina Fuentes on Oct. 2.

Forum moderators and reporters covering the event were surprised when they learned that Lustre was about to be arrested at 11:10 a.m.

After a police officer read the warrant, Lustre was handcuffed and escorted to a patrol vehicle outside the restaurant.

Lustre, a critic of former president Rodrigo Duterte and author of the book titled “Kill Kill Kill,” which is about the war on drugs, said he was unaware of a pending case in Davao.

“I do not know who the complainant is. They just gave me the stature,” Lustre told reporters. “I will fight. I will not back down.”

Human rights lawyer Dino de Leon, who was a guest at the forum, volunteered as Lustre’s counsel and is working to have the journalist released on bail.

“This is a sad day for journalism in the Philippines. We can feel the attack on members of the media. We do not know the full details of the case yet, but this made a chilling effect,” De Leon said.