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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Yaranon faces P103M libel suit
By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
A P103 million-libel suit was filed against Baguio City Mayor Braulio Yaranon by Baguio City Representative Mauricio Domogan Tuesday.
Yaranon welcomed the libel charges, saying he is willing to face them if only "to bring out the truth."
"Truth is my defense and if this is what needs to be done to bring out the truth, I am willing to go through with it. This has been going on for over 12 years already and it is about time that it was stopped," Yaranon said, referring to the alleged "institutionalized graft and corruption" reportedly involving former mayor Bernado Vergara and Domogan.
Earlier, Domogan said Yaranon had gone overboard in his criticism, especially when he bluntly accused the him, Vergara and a city department head, of colluding with Jadewell in the operation of the city's pay parking.
"It's too much," Domogan was quoted as saying, referring to Yaranon's earlier pronouncement that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been "deliberately misled into unknowingly protecting institutionalized graft and corruption by taking cognizance of the complaint filed by an entity that is in collusion with corrupt officials."
He also stressed it is unfair to be accused of committing graft and corruption, saying that while there may be "defects" in the pay parking memorandum of agreement (MOA) as pointed out by the Commission on Audit, this does not necessarily translate to graft and corruption as claimed by Yaranon.
Vergara, meanwhile, said he filed the charge "to let (Yaranon) refrain from maligning other persons and from harping about the alleged `institutionalized graft and corruption'..."
"We have to put things in its proper perspective. If we really have done something illegal and if he has any evidence to prove his allegations, then he should file the proper charges against us in court. If he doesn't have any evidence of any wrongdoing on our part, he should just shut up and not resort to putting us in a bad light with his malicious publicity," the former mayor said.
He said this is also to teach Yaranon a lesson not to abuse his authority as a mayor and his freedom of speech, in order not to malign and injure innocent and unsuspecting persons like him.
(April 13, 2005 issue)
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