Smarting from what he said was his being caricatured as a candidate to a mental institution by a Davao City-based newspaper, Ely Pamatong said that Roger M. Balanza,  the editor of the Durian Post also deserves a slot in a mental hospital.

If you read his writings, he is also a candidate to the mental hospital, said Pamatong interviewed on Saturday by Jun Baring of DXRR Radyo Arangkada.

But Pamatong said he is withdrawing the libel charge he filed against Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Balanza, whom he both accused of calling him “crazy” for his proposal to create a Federal Republic of Mindansesia which would declare parts of Mindanao and some islands in the Visayas as a Christian state.

Explaining why he is backing out of the case he filed two weeks ago, Pamatong said the case would eat up time and money he would rather spend to pursue his proposed Christian state.

Pamatong, who gained national attention after he spiked Manila streets following his declaration by Comelec as a nuisance candidate in the 2004 elections, also said Duterte is too heavy a foe to battle with.

Pamatong filed the case against Duterte who said that “Pamatong’s idea is crazy” in his television program Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa. The Durian Post carried Duterte’s statement but spiced it up with an editorial cartoon that showed a man fishing on a pail hoping to net a fish as big as a barracuda.

On Baring’s radio program on Saturday, Pamatong said he would withdraw the libel cases filed against Duterte and Balanza the following Monday.

Meanwhile, Balanza said he received an order last week from the Prosecution Office ordering he answer the Pamatong charge within 15 days after receipt.

Told that Pamatong is withdrawing the libel case against him, Balanza said “thank you, Ely.”

Now I know that Pamatong is saner than a congressman we know, he said.

Balanza is facing four counts of libel filed by former House Speaker Prospero Nograles for articles and columns he wrote in his weekly paper, Durian Post, about Nograles and the 2010 elections where the former Speaker lost by more than 200,000 votes to Mayor Sara Duterte.