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[av_heading heading=’Drilon critic indicted for ‘libelous’ Facebook posts ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – The Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office indicted former Iloilo provincial administrator and journalist Manuel Mejorada for five counts of libel.
Sen. Franklin Drilon filed the complaint under Section 4 (b) of Republic Act (RA) 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012) in relation to Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code.
The Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office resolution was dated Nov. 27, 2017. Signed by Investigating Prosecutor Ju-Haree DC Tolentino and approved by OIC City Prosecutor Benjamin B. Lanto, it found sufficient evidence to charge Mejorada with the crime of libel for alleged defamatory imputations against Drilon on Facebook.
“Respondent imputed and uttered words calculated to induce suspicion that complainant…is guilty of various crimes. The words used…were calculated to destroy and discredit the character and reputation of the complainant,” the resolution stated.
One Facebook post dated Aug. 16, 2016 contained accusations with regards to the Iloilo Convention Center (ICC). It read: “Manong Frank will also face his own problems with his P3 billion in DAP projects in Iloilo City, with the Iloilo Convention Center as the centerpiece monument of corruption.”
DAP was the Disbursement Acceleration Program of the Aquino administration parts of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
On March 11, 2017, another post of Mejorada read: “The magnitude of corruption in Iloilo City increased 10-fold during the reign of the Liberal Party from 2010-2016. Iloilo City became the Frankenstein laboratory for a man named Franklin Drilon in literally scouring the depths of the public treasury through DAP-funded projects. And the drug syndicates were part of the equation. The drug lords were given free vein to lord over in exchange for providing the firepower and muscle against critics of the men in power. It was a show of Franklin and Jed, with Jerry playing a fiddle role. No less than President Duterte understands this now.”
The Pasay City Prosecutor explained that in a libel case, the question was not what the writer of an alleged libelous item intended to say but the meaning of the words used.
“There is publication if the material is communicated to a third person. It is not required that the person defamed has read or heard about the libelous remarked. What is material is that a third person has read or heard the libelous statement, for ‘a man’s reputation is the estimate in which others hold him in, not the good opinion which he has of himself,’” it added.
The Pasay City Prosecutor also noted that the defenses and arguments presented by Mejorada were evidentiary in nature and were better appreciated in a full-blown trial.
Reached for his comment, Mejorada told Panay News he was yet to receive a copy of the resolution.
“I will definitely file a motion for reconsideration and if this is denied, I intend to file a petition for review with the (Department of Justice),” he said./PN
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