Tuesday, July 17, 2007 Governor sues columnist anew
AFTER a libel complaint in Cebu City last April, followed by civil suit in her hometown of Barili, Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia yesterday filed another libel complaint against columnist and broadcaster Leo Lastimosa.
This time, what angered Garcia is a blind item in Lastimosa’s newspaper column published last June 29. The damage to her reputation is “compensable” by P2 million plus lawyer’s fees of P500,000.
Asked to comment, Lastimosa said, “Naunsa naman na siya? Kung komentaryohan ang mga kawatan sa Asean summit, kiha siya.
Kung hisgotan si Imelda, suko sab siya. Gikusi na siya sa iyang konsensya? O nahadlok na siya sa iyang kaugalingong anino?
(What has got into her? If I comment about the thieves at the Asean summit she files a case. If I talk about Imelda, she also gets angry. Is her conscience troubling her? Or she now fears her own shadow?),”
The column piece is entitled “Si Doling kawatan” (Doling the thief) and did not mention the governor’s name.
But in her complaint, Garcia said the piece was about her and that Doling was a play of her first name, Gwendolyn.
Garcia, represented by lawyer Rory Jon Sepulveda, filed the complaint before the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor. In her affidavit-complaint, she said the column was fueled by Lastimosa’s displeasure and animosity over her “bonafide resort to judicial and legal processes.”
Doling, in Lastimosa’s column, is described to be a fishmonger whose life is inexplicably altered one day. The character suddenly becomes the owner of a big house, a fleet of cars and real estate.
Doling tells neighbors that the money came from the lottery.
Abrasiveness Doling runs for barangay captain and wins. Doling assumes the post amid protest. While in office, Doling’s abrasiveness begins to show.
When somebody insinuates that Doling’s wealth is ill-gotten, the character erupts. Doling vilifies the detractor and files a case in court. The detractor’s supporters are also threatened with criminal case and banishment to a swine farm.
“All said depiction of my character are false, baseless and malicious; designed to cause dishonor and discredit my name and reputation as the Governor of the Province of Cebu,” Garcia said in the complaint.
“By suggestive resemblance in circumstance, character and events, I was depicted among others as a thief, vindictive, ill tempered and (a) cruel person,” she said. (KNR)
