ILOILO – Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. filed a complaint for cyber libel (five counts) against former provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada.
His legal counsel Hector Teodosio lodged the complaint – violation of Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cyber Crime Prevention Act of 2012 – at the Iloilo City Prosecutor’s Office yesterday.
The governor cited five Facebook posts of Mejorada on Sept. 26, Oct. 1, Nov. 15 and Nov. 20, 2018 where he was called corrupt and other similar accusations.
“I felt humiliated, embarrassed and at the same time angry” over Mejorada’s Facebook posts,” Defensor stated in his complaint.
In his Sept. 26 Facebook post , Mejorada alleged that Defensor “used millions and millions of pesos in DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program) funds to buy votes in the May 2013 elections.”
He also wrote that the governor was mad at him for so-called exposes “because his bubble armor disguising him as clean and honest was pricked and burst.”
In another post made on Oct. 1, Mejorada repeated his accusation against Defensor on the DAP funds, asserting that the governor “misused and misappropriated” them during the 2013 elections.
Mejorada, in the same post, wrote that Defensor refused to address the DAP issue “by turning a deaf ear…hoping that his supposed clean image will allow his son to survive election day.”
Defensor’s son, 3rd District congressman Arthur Defensor Jr., is running for governor against Cong. Ferjenel Biron, reportedly a sponsor of Mejorada’s blocktime radio programs.
“As he refuses to confront the issue head-on, he has shown that his corruption runs so deeply that he won’t even confess to his sins,” Mejorada wrote about Defensor.
In a separate post on Oct. 1, Mejorada asserted that Defensor had been caught red-handed to have misappropriated public funds to buy votes in 2013 but, he added, the governor refused to admit and to apologize to the people.
Meanwhile, on Nov. 15 Mejorada posted on Facebook that Defensor violated the ban on the disbursement of public funds during the 2013 election campaign period by paying the contractor of the Dumangas-Balabag Provincial Road on April 30, 2013.
“Defensor’s dirty politics continues to be unmasked. This guy plays with disregard for the law and rules and regulations. He is also a dishonorable man,” Mejorada wrote.
Five days later, Mejorada alleged on Facebook he received word from a friend that “old man” Defensor had now become “the laughingstock in the cafeteria of the Iloilo Capitol!”
Mejorada added: “I guess that’s what Defensor gets for pretending to be clean and honest when in truth, he is corrupt to the core.”
Defensor, in his complaint, said Mejorada started attacking him when Congressman Biron announced he would run for governor against Congressman Arthur Defensor Jr./PN
