By GMA News
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Veteran journalist Philip Lustre Jr. was temporarily released from detention on Saturday after posting P48,000 bail in a cyberlibel case, according to a dzBB Super Radyo report by Olan Bola.
A video posted by Bola on X showed Lustre at the police station with his lawyer, holding up his release papers.
TINGNAN: Beteranong mamamahayag na si Philip Lustre na inaresto kanina sa Quezon City dahil sa kasong Cyberlibel, pansamantalang nakalaya matapos makapag-piyansa ng P48,000 | via @olanbola https://t.co/1QQkzVP8hb
— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) October 24, 2026
Lustre, 72, was arrested on Saturday by police officers in Quezon City on the strength of a warrant issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 10 in Davao City.
He was taken into custody shortly after attending the Saturday News Forum at Dapo Restaurant on Scout Borromeo Street, and was brought to the Quezon City Police District’s Kamuning Police Station 10 for booking and medical examination.
Lustre’s lawyer, Atty. Dino De Leon, said his client was unaware of the complaint before his arrest, adding that the defense would seek the reopening of the preliminary investigation into the case.
The identity of the complainant and the specific publication that allegedly prompted the cyberlibel charge were not immediately disclosed in initial reports.
In a Facebook post, De Leon reported the veteran journalist and writer’s provisional liberty.
“Hanggang may mga lumalaban para sa tama, hinding-hindi mananaig ang mga taong gustong patahimikin tayo, lalong-lalo na ang mga kapatid natin sa media,” the lawyer said.
(As long as there are people fighting for what is right, those who want to silence us will never prevail, especially against our colleagues in the media.)
“Hinding-hindi tayo pasisiil (We will never be silenced),” the lawyer added.
Lustre is a longtime journalist, essayist and critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
He authored Kill, Kill, Kill: Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines: Crimes Against Humanity v. Rodrigo Duterte et al., a book examining the killings associated with Duterte’s war on drugs and the allegations against the former president before the International Criminal Court.— MCG, GMA News
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