Gretchen Fullido lodges sexual harassment, libel cases vs. ABS-CBN execs

A sexual harassment complaint was filed by Gretchen Fullido, a Kapamilya entertainment reporter, against her former and current colleagues before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office on Friday, October 5.

In a statement posted on Facebook by Gretchen’s lawyer, Marvin Aceron, the reporter sued former ABS-CBN News executive Cheryl Favila and ABS-CBN News segment producer Maricar Asprec.

According to Gretchen, Favila and Asprec sent her text messages which contain “sexual innuendos” that amounted to requests for sexual favors. When she dismissed their advances, Gretchen said the two made it ‘difficult’ for her to perform her job as a reporter and a news anchor for TV Patrol, an evening daily news program.

This cycle, Gretchen said, has been going on for three years already.

Aside from Favila and Asprec, the Kapamilya correspondent also slapped Cecilia Drilon and Venancio Borromeo, news executives of ABS-CBN, and news reporter Marie Lozano with libel complaints for “besmirching her reputation” by claiming that she filed sexual harassment cases only to “leverage her employment status.”

Gretchen also accused Drilon of victim shaming after the latter said that the reporter “deserved to be harassed” for being ‘willing’ to wear a bikini in an inflatable pool to boost TV Patrol’s ratings.

It was not the first time Gretchen filed a complaint against Favila.

Three months ago, the ABS-CBN Management dismissed the sexual harassment case against Favila, however, she was held liable for “gross misconduct” that led to her dismissal from the network.

ABS-CBN, for its part, said it respects Gretchen’s right to bring her complaint to the courts.

“ABS-CBN takes sexual harassment seriously and does not condone such acts in the workplace or by its employees,” it said.

It added that when Gretchen filed an administrative complaint against her supervising producer and segment producer for alleged sexual harassment last November 2017, the company said it “took prompt action” on the matter and decided based on the presented evidence.

According to the statement, Gretchen, who currently anchors TV Patrol’s entertainment news segment “Star Patrol,” is the first Filipino news personality to speak out against sexual harassment in the country’s news industry.