Monday, July 24, 2006
Tabloid officials charged with P1B libel case
A P1-BILLION libel suit was filed by insurance mogul Roberto Coyiuto Jr. against the editors of the Philippine Journal Inc. (PJI) for coming out with a series of articles in connection with his alleged non-payment of some P800 million in tax liability for 1995 and 1996.
Coyiuto is a director of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) and chairman of the Prudential Guarantee and Assurance Inc. (PGAI).
In a complaint filed last July 13 before Assistant City Prosecutor Hannibal Santillan of the Manila Prosecutor's Office, Coyiuto and co-complainant Celestino Ang, PGAI senior vice president, accused PJI officers of maligning their reputations by portraying them as "corrupt tax cheats" in two separate instances that came out in two of the publication's newspapers.
Named respondents in the case were PJI board of directors; People's Journal Tonight editor-in-chief Augusto Villanueva, managing editor Paul Icamina, associate editor Saturnino Sofranes, news editor Ma. Teresa Lardizabal, and city editor Jun Pisco.
Coyuito said the tabloid officials clearly violated Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code, stemming from the two PJI articles that saw print last June 8 in People's Tonight, and June 28 in People's Journal, which they claimed were intended to "impugn, defame and expose (themselves) and Prudential Guarantee to public hatred, vilification, and contempt."
The two PGAI executives were prompted to file the charges against the respondents after PJI officials refused to rectify their articles that came out in People's Tonight entitled "Tax raps v. Coyiuto dead?" last June 8 and "Why is BIR not after Coyiuto?" in People's Journal on June 28, 2006.
They said that the tax liability referred to amounted to only to P151.2 million, and not P800 million as reported in the two PJI stories, and that these revenue dues have already been settled with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) since October 2000.
According to them, the public records with the BIR are readily accessible to respondents, but they failed to inform the public of facts known regarding the settlement and discharge of the tax case.
"This is not only professional and journalistic negligence, it is an intentional and premeditated PR demolition job to discredit me (Coyiuto) and Prudential Guarantee. The article was maliciously written, composed, and published by respondents with the obvious intention of impugning and holding to public derision and ridicule our reputations," Coyiuto said.
He said the respondents intend to destroy not only their persons, but also the reputation of PGAI by "portraying us as corrupt tax cheats living a 'lavish' lifestyle at the expense of the government's collection effort."
The articles cannot be considered as a "fair and true report," Coyiuto said, but rather nothing more than "rumor-mongering," aimed at tarnishing their reputation because the PJI, if only it wanted to write the story factually and without malice, could easily mobilize its reporters and resources to check its veracity before the BIR.
"Worst of all, respondents knew or should have known that the 1999 assessment against PGAI for documentary stamp taxes in 1995 and 1996 had been compromised and paid in 2000," the complainants said. (ECV/Sunnex)
(July 24, 2006 issue)
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