SEXUAL BULLIES,PT 2: DID ADELUP PERV BLACKMAIL LOCAL EDITOR?
Castillo: ‘That was a dark time for me’
Trying to get her life back to normal after her ordeal in Adelup was not easy for Geraldine Castillo, who lost her job during Calvo and Tenorio’s first term, after repeatedly rebuffing sexual advances from her superior.
Castillo, a former copy editor at the PDN was recruited to work in the communications office of Adelup when the Calvo-Tenorio administration swept in.
Throughout her employment in Adelup, Castillo suffered a period of aggressive sexual flirtation and inappropriate workplace behavior by her superior, Eric Palacios.
Castillo was eventually given her walking papers, after she unzipped Palacios’ sexual bullying.
In a distraught email to a “friend,” Castillo tried to explain the difficulty she had trying to find employment after leaving Adelup.
“Eric is just mad that he couldn't get any play from me,” Castillo wrote in one email to a friend. "Even more mad that he got caught trying to, so he has made it a point to try and destroy my life.”
Fortunately for Castillo, PDN was more than happy to re-hire her as a sports copy editor after being pushed out of Adelup.
"I was so glad, you know," Castillo wrote with smiley face emojiis to her friend.
Castillo went in to PDN office several days later to complete her hiring process. While there she had a conversation with David Crisostomo, then the managing editor of the island's largest newspaper.
“During our conversation, I disclosed everything to him,” she confessed, “and why I got out of Adelup sooner. David made me feel better about everything that had happened to me."
Castillo quoted Crisostomo as telling her, “You know it's rare we take people back who come from political offices, but you did a good job while you were here.”
"What he told me was so reassuring. I thought my life was finally getting back to normal after surviving the whole Adelup experience,” Castillo said.
She came back the next day for her first day at work. She completed a full day.
"'You're in a better place now, I'm glad you're back,' he told me,” Castillo wrote in an email.
The following day, Crisostomo called Castillo and fired her over the phone.
"He told me I couldn't come back to work," Castillo wrote in distress. "I wanted to scream, 'What??? What did I do?"
Castillo explained further down the exhaustive email thread, "I didn’t know WTH to think."
Her correspondent replied, "But Eric (Palacios) used to work at PDN. He's still good friends with Rin (Rindraty Limtiaco), Steve, Dave and those guys! Hellooo!!!”
Or, was it as the lengthy email thread obtained by guamblog from Castillo's “friend” in February 2016 suggested? That a possible reason Crisostomo “had to let” Castillo go after only 24 hours on the job: EXTORTION?
"You know, he knows from Troy stuff about David that he could use to make him do what he wants. All he has to do is blackmail him. Like they do when they don't want a story published."
Guam's professional journalists are a part of a very small, tight-knit club run by women. By the time night had fallen across the island, a small group of upset females from that club had pooled around a watering hole in Tamuning to drink and discuss with Castillo the drama that befell her.
Mar-Vic Cagurangan was the editor-in-chief at Guam Marianas Variety. Therese Hart was the senior beat reporter, a heavyweight in her own right with a background in government and politics. They were joined by other women in the field at the table.
And appalled at the blatant sexism they were all familiar with personally and professionally.
A few years ago, MV Guam (Guam Variety) was peaking, enjoying an enviable perch as the journal of choice for business leaders and the political set, due in large part to the incisive political stories and editorials crafted by powerhouse reporter Therese Hart and the leadership of a fearless editor who cut her journalistic teeth on bullets during the People’s Revolution in the Philippines and later, as part of the presidential press corp: Mar-Vic Cagurangan.
The band of sisterhood brought the story to MV Guam publisher Amier Younis. Younis wasted no time in lending Castillo his moral and economic support by offering her a job.
Meanwhile, Hart relentlessly pursued the story, trying to convince a reluctant Castillo to stand strong and allow the tale of harassment and retribution to be told.
Sadly, like the countless untold stories before her, Castillo kept her victimizer safe behind her resolute silence, a wall built of shame and fear. Her sexual predator was safe to try once again to intimidate other employees into relationships, and shakedown employers in an ongoing effort to ruin Castillo’s life and make it impossible for her to find and keep employment.
"God, that was a dark time for me. What the hell, my name is ruined and I'm getting fired left and right," Castillo told Guamblog back in 2016.
"Someone had already told Amier (Younis) my story," by the time Castillo said she summoned the courage to walk into the offices of Variety.
"I kind of knew that Amier was totally not on any political side, and learned that Eric was even his cousin, so I wasn't confident I would get hired and was really desperate to find job by then," Castillo said.
"But from the very first conversation with Amier, during which we spoke about Eric (Palacios) and I had a real sense of reassurance. The publisher told me that he would never listen to Eric and knew the kind of person he is and that I was hired. Right there. On the spot!
"Inside I was like, 'Yaaaaay!'" Castillo said. “I didn’t have to worry about editors or publishers too afraid to stand up for what was right. I was ecstatic.”
"I was at MV for two years as a reporter. Therese (Hart) really fought hard to bring this story out, but I couldn't," Castillo said.
"That's also about the time the plagiarism story, about Ray Tenorio plagiarizing the school work of Adelup staff Sahara (Defensor) and Mike (Bumagat) to submit for his Masters degree at UOG, when that story came out, they wanted me to come forward because I knew about that, too. But I didn't want to be involved or have my name or my story out there with Adelup thinking it was my doing," the timid and fearful Castillo said.
"Therese and Matt really made my time there worthwhile,” Castillo said.
Matt Weiss was the Sports editor for MV Guam at the time.
“They really worked at getting me out of the shell that I had formed around me after what happened to me with Eric and Adelup," Castillo told me.
She gave enormous credit to the paper's editor, too.
"Mar-Vic, what can I say," the near-tearful reporter said as we huddled in a corner in the old legislature building one afternoon talking about her story.
“Thanks to those guys, I had dreams again. I still don't want this (attention). I'm still afraid people will look at me and wonder, whisper, gossip. I know it's not my fault," Castillo confessed. "But, still...” she said with sad eyes and a helpless shrug.
"I got through it. Like that whole 'wind beneath my wings' thing. I know it's cheesy," she joked.
"But it's true. Mar-Vic was instrumental in getting me to chase my dreams once the nightmare was over and I was able to dream again.' The worst part about it though: I had to leave MV and the people there that gave me wings again. I will always and forever keep them dearly in my heart," Castillo said before saying good-bye.
