Mabanta, 4 others out on bail in extort case
Social media personality and Peanut Gallery Media Network (PGMN) Network founder Franco Mabanta and four others have been released from detention after posting bail in their robbery extortion case, where they allegedly tried to blackmail former Speaker Martin Romualdez.
According to a document provided by the National Bureau of Investigation, the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 167 on Saturday ordered their release after they posted bail of P120,000 each.
Mabanta and his four coaccused were arrested in an NBI entrapment operation on May 5 and were detained at New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City after inquest proceedings.
“Accordingly, the Chief of the National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Corrections Detention Facility located at Building No. 14, New Bilibid Prison BuCor Compound, Muntinlupa City is directed to release respondents,” the court order read.
The four other respondents are PGMN finance officer Ericson James Pacaba, incorporator John Alexander Vasquez Gomez, and employees Jardine Christian Requio Serrano and Franco Jose Gallardo.
To press dismissal
They first tried but failed to post bail on Friday. Their lawyer, Bernice Rodriguez, said they were “exhausting every possible legal remedy available just to ensure that the case will be dismissed and that our clients will be released as soon as possible.”
Mabanta and the others were arrested by the NBI on a complaint filed by Romualdez saying the PGMN executive demanded P350 million, eventually lowered to P300 million, in exchange for not releasing a video purportedly linking the Leyte congressman to corruption in the House of Representatives.
While in NBI custody, Mabanta denied that he tried to extort money from Romualdez. A PGMN statement quoting its founder dismissed the NBI operation as a “setup.”
Through a spokesperson, Romualdez later issued a statement saying PGMN was “twisting the narrative,” saying any exposé materials it claimed to possess should be submitted to proper authorities and not used “as leverage in exchange for money.”
“That is what PGMN did: They purportedly produced a video that was allegedly ready to run several weeks ago and yet chose not to release it. That is not journalism, that is extortion … Such conduct undermines legitimate journalism and damages public trust in genuine media institutions,” the lawmaker said through lawyer Elaine Atienza.
