A Filipino broadcaster was released on 23 December 2008 after spending almost two years in prison in Davao del Norte for libel. Davao del Norte is a province approximately 946 km south of Manila. Libel is a criminal offense in the Philippines.
Alexander "Lex" Adonis, formerly of Bombo Radyo in Davao City, was released from the Davao Penal Colony (also known as the Davao Prison and Penal Farm) at around 2 p.m. on 23 December 2008 after the Department of Justice (DoJ)-Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) approved his release. The release order, signed by DoJ undersecretary and BuCor director Oscar Calderon included 52 other prisoners, GMANews.TV reported.
Dodong Solis of the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP-Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines)-Mindanao Chapter and radio station Radio Mindanao Network told the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), a SEAPA founding member, that Adonis was released due to his 11 December 2007 parole.
The DoJ-Board of Pardon and Paroles paroled Adonis on 11 December 2007 after he had served the minimum sentence for a libel case. But Davao Penal Colony warden Venancio Tesoro refused to release him when a second libel case based on the same report for which he had been convicted was filed by a woman alleged to be the paramour of House of Representatives Speaker Prospero Nograles.
On 26 May 2008, Tesoro still refused to release Adonis despite a release order by the Davao Regional Trial Court Branch 14 after Davao media colleagues paid a P5,000 (then approximately US $116.63) bail bond for Adonis. Tesoro, who has only custodial powers over prisoners, argued that the pending case disqualified Adonis from receiving his parole.
The alleged paramour withdrew the second libel case in October 2008 after Adonis issued a public apology. The Davao City Regional Trial Court Branch 14 then dismissed on 27 October 2008 the second libel case and ordered that Adonis be "released from detention unless there be other lawful ground for his further confinement".
Upon his release, Adonis read a statement expressing his gratitude to the media organizations and individuals who helped him during his detention and worked for his release.
Adonis also explained in the statement his decision to apologize. "The decision to say sorry...was a hard move I had taken. I would like to state now the truth that while I did say sorry, it did not in any way mean a capitulation of the truth I have been pursuing nor did it mean an admission of my guilt," Adonis said.
Adonis was convicted on 26 January 2007 for the first libel case filed against him by Nograles. Davao congressman Nograles, the fourth most powerful person in the Philippines, filed libel charges in October 2001 for Adonis's report on his alleged extra-marital affairs. Adonis, reading from a tabloid, reported on his program that Nograles had been caught in a compromising situation with his alleged paramour in a hotel in Manila.
