A lawyer and on-air personality at Peanut Gallery Media Network has broken her silence following the arrest of the network’s founder, warning against any use of state authority to suppress critical voices.
Atty. Regal Oliva, writing on Facebook, said the network has consistently championed “free speech, independent commentary, and the constitutional right to question those in power,” and reminded the public that “every individual is said to be innocent until proven otherwise.”
Franco Mabanta, who founded PGMN, was taken into custody Tuesday by the National Bureau of Investigation in what agents described as an entrapment operation. Authorities allege he attempted to extort ₱350 million from former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, reportedly over a video connected to flood control projects. Romualdez is said to have cooperated with the NBI in setting up the operation.
Oliva stopped short of directly addressing the specific allegations against Mabanta, but used the arrest to frame a broader concern about press freedom and dissent. She cautioned that cases like this risk eroding public confidence, calling for vigilance to ensure that “the machinery of the State is never used—directly or indirectly—to chill dissent, suppress commentary, or silence critical voices.”
NBI Director Melvin Matibag said the agency would release additional details once Mabanta has been brought before inquest proceedings — the process by which prosecutors assess whether probable cause exists to pursue charges following a warrantless arrest.
Oliva described free expression as “a constitutional freedom that must remain protected, especially in times of controversy.”
