Cheryl Favila’s lawyer denies sexual harassment accusations of reporter Gretchen Fullido

FILE: Gretchen Fullido files criminal cases against her former and current colleagues at ABS-CBN. (Photo: Marvin B. Aceron/Facebook)

The lawyer of former TV Patrol supervising producer Cheryl Favila, Atty. Evalyn Ursua backed up her client in denying the sexual accusations of reporter Gretchen Fullido.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Cheryl first stated, “I really want to know if she has a problem with me. I have done nothing wrong to her. I never sexually harassed Gretchen Fullido.”

Ursua then added that it is important “to remember the bottom line,” adding that “If you’re saying that a person has authority over another in terms of employment, that person must actually have power to fire that person. Or that person can affect the terms of employment of that other person. That did not exist here.”

Gretchen, who met Cheryl in the workplace, filed the complaint last October 5 at the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, attributing her supposed “repeated advances since 2015” affecting the work that she produces.

Atty. Ursua fought back saying, “Gretchen’s stories did not get aired—not because of malice, but because her stories were either—No. 1, the stories were very poorly written; No. 2, did not have an angle; No. 3, there was no video support; No. 4, the video support and the story did not match,” concluding that overall, “the work of Gretchen Fullido just does not meet journalistic standards.”

Prior to Gretchen’s charge to the local authorities, Cheryl reported that the case was already dismissed by TV Network ABS-CBN on July 18 of this year after a year of investigation.

On October 9, Gretchen released text messages from Cheryl to back up her accusations. These were allegedly “loaded with sexual innuendos, which amounted to requests for sexual favors,” according to Gretchen’s counsel Marvin Aceron.

The case is still in the preliminary stages of processing with the city government.