Seares: Why Tomas lawsuit against us sucks

THE Cebu City Council authorized Mayor Tomas Osmeña to sue for libel Atan Guardo, his opponent in the south district House race, but not the journalists: me as editor-in-chief and Rene Martel as reporter.

Rene and I weren’t included in the council resolution but Tomas even named us first and seemed to direct his wrath in the complaint not at Atan but primarily at us. He’s shooting the messengers. Guardo, message author, becomes an afterthought.

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But that’s not the only reason the Tomas complaint with the prosecutor’s office sucks:

[1] There’s no defamatory statement. In two news stories Rene wrote and Sun.Star Cebu published, Atan accused city officials of trying to stop his aid-giving to fire victims. Atan protested against an allegedly underhanded tactic. It was as relevant as Atan’s accusation that City Hall removed his basketball goal boards or Tomas’s spiel that Atan made “false promises” he couldn’t deliver.

[2] They’re deep in the campaign, for heaven’s sake. They’re politicians throwing mud at each other, tossing charges back and forth to woo voters.

[3] Rene wrote the stories of Atan’s comments against Tomas with no comment, as faithfully as the paper reported Tomas’s statements against Atan. Me? I hadn’t even
read those stories before publication; a page editor did.

Absence of malice

[4] Malice isn’t presumed here because of the mantle of privileged communication. City Hall lawyers must have seen that but they can’t tell the mayor the complaint won’t stand or fly.

A lawsuit from a politician in this campaign season? Bizarre, totally.

(paseares@yahoo.com)