Reader comments on Perdices' suit

I just received an email from a reader of the Negros Chronicle reacting to the civil suit filed by Dumaguete Mayor Agustin Perdices against a person the mayor claims to be an Australian citizen named Dindo P. Generoso. Here is that email:

"To Negros Chronicle,

This is my first time to write to your Readers Comments and would like to say that I am appalled at the over-reaction of Mayor Perdices to Mr. Generoso's article. I have just been able to read that May 20 article and found nothing of the mayor's accusations supposed to have been made by Mr. Generoso.

In another newspaper I also read that Mayor Perdices said he was forced to file a complaint because Mr. Generoso refused to apologize for his beliefs. I do not know that people are now supposed to apologize for their beliefs if other people don't like it.

In this connection I congratulate the Dumaguete media in standing up to protect the Freedom of Speech specially your write ups in relation to the Generoso Issue with Mayor Perdices. I am hoping the mayor will come to his senses and recognize that as a public official he is subject to public scrutiny and criticism.

Since this is his last term in office, i would prefer to read about his plans for Dumaguete for the next three years instead of tangling with the media and infringing the freedom of Speech in its wake. Mr. Generoso's comments were admittedly abrasive but the mayor should not allow himself to be carried away by his imagination. Thank you and more power to Negros Chronicle.

En-en Tolen"