SEVEN out of 12 male councilors of Bacolod City filed a libel case against the editor-in-chief of a local tabloid for allegedly maligning them in an editorial article about the “live sex” controversy.

The controversy was an offshoot of a blind item also published in Agila last June 26 which alleged that four city councilors and a top official of Bacolod were allegedly “involved in a live sex in a motel with one unidentified lady.”

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Councilors Greg Gasataya, Homer Bais, Dindo Ramos, Wilson Gamboa Jr., Al Victor Espino, Alex Paglumotan and Roberto Rojas, in a complaint-affidavit sworn before City Prosecutor Montano Medel Jr. dated July 3, said that the editorial “Live Sex Sang Mga Konsehal” of Agila “was entirely devoted to demean, ridicule, degrade, embarrass and humiliate all the city councilors of Bacolod City for having allegedly involved in an immoral act. There was no reason to malign the name and integrity of the elective city officials without any basis, except by reason of malice and political motivation.”

“The condemnable act of Aguila’s editor-in-chief Erwin Ambo Delilan in publishing a malicious imputation of a wrong or a defect upon our person is a matter that should not be tolerated at all and that he should be held criminally and civilly liable for this felonious act,” the aldermen added.

“Since the time we were publicly and maliciously demeaned and humiliated by his editorial, we suffered from sleepless nights, mental anguish, emotional anxiety and the worth of our family, which if quantified in monetary consideration, the same should not be less than P1,000,000 each.”

But Delilan told Sun.Star Bacolod Friday night “my truth is my defense,” as he stood firm that the content of his editorial is not libelous. “I’m ready to face them.”

He said “the editorial is the opinion of the paper,” adding he never mentioned names and that it was Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson “who legitimized the blind item in a report published in another paper on June 29.”

Sayson, together with Gasataya, Bais, Ramos and Espino, filed another libel case last June 30 against a broadcaster who also implicated them in the “live sex” controversy, this time referring to city officials composing the so-called “Voltes 5”.

“How can a blind item be libelous?” Delilan stressed. “The blind item was just asking if it (live sex) was true. I don’t know their rationale in suing me for libel. No (journalism) ethics was violated. We’re just asking if its true.” (Merlinda A. Pedrosa/with CGC)

Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on July 4, 2009.