|
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Court finds Tribune publisher guilty of libel
MANILA (Updated 12:51 p.m.) -- A local court found newspaper publisher Ninez Cacho Olivarez guilty of libel and sentenced her to six months to two years imprisonment and to pay P5 million as moral damages.
Makati RTC Judge Winlove Dumayas found Olivarez, publisher of Daily Tribune, guilty for writing a libelous column that accused a law firm of peddling a bid for the construction of the Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
Dumayas said the amount rendered for moral damages was due to the professional standing of the complainants, they "being highly reputed lawyers in the Philippines."
The court said it finds the article defamatory and is convinced that its publication is attended with malice and bad faith.
Olivarez in an interview over ANC said the court decision is clearly an injustice.
The case stemmed from an article Olivarez wrote on June 23, 2003 about a secret agreement between former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo and the law firm of a bidder for the NAIA Terminal 3 project.
The article alleged that Marcelo handpicked people supposedly "connected" with his own law firm, the Carpio Villaraza Cruz (CVC) Law, to handle a complaint by its client Asia's Emerging Dragons Corp. (AEDC) against the winning bidder in the Terminal 3 project and former secretaries of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).
AEDC, a consortium led by Filipino-Chinese tycoon Lucio Tan, is a losing bidder.
By the time Olivarez's article was published, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had nullified government's build-operate contact with Piatco for the construction of Terminal 3 due to alleged irregularities.
The alleged extortion cited in Olivarez's column was purportedly based on a CD recording of a conversation among Fraport officials detailing how Villaraza allegedly tried to extort money from them. Fraport, a German firm, was the foreign partner of Piatco in the project.
Olivarez alleged that Villaraza asked for US$70 million to ensure that the consortium gets the contract and to pay off certain government officials, including then presidential adviser Avelino Cruz and then presidential adviser on strategic projects Gloria Tan Climaco.
The complainants said the accusations in the article were unfounded and that they maligned the reputation of the law firm and its co-founder Arthur F. Villaraza by portraying them as "mere influence peddlers."
In their complaint, CVC Law, also known as the "The Firm," lawyers argued that the people identified as supposedly connected to them, then Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Victor Fernandez and Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio, were never associated with the law firm.
But Olivarez stood by her story and said it was based on reliable sources.
Likewise, she argued that the article is of "grave public importance" and that the Tribune, as a newspaper, is a watchdog of government wrongdoings.
In his ruling, Dumayas sided with the arguments of the complainants and said the "article is derogatory" to them.
"The title of the article alone already imputes deceit and dishonesty on the private complainants and the body referred to manipulation of government agencies to benefit AEDC. A reading of the entire article would confirm the reader's impression of deceit and dishonesty," the ruling said, adding that the complainants were consistently referred to as having a hold on the Arroyo administration's legal arena.
The court also said there were insinuations in the story that the private complainants have a very special relationship with people in government and that they use it to their benefit and advantage.
"They are clearly referred to in the article as only influence-peddlers who resort to illegal and underhanded means just to make money and protect their interests," the ruling added.
The court likewise said that "no amount of reasoning or rationalization from the accused can erase from the minds of the readers the derogatory statements (made) against the complainants."
Citing the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court (SC) for comments on matters of public interest, the court said the article failed to satisfy the well-known standards of reasonable degree of care and on reasonable grounds and that the "accused failed to present proof that the contents of the article are true."
The court also faulted Olivarez for having failed to exert efforts to verify the truth of the statements" against the complainants.
Lastly, the court said Olivarez cannot "hide behind the freedom of the press and expression in order to evade liability" adding that these rights are not absolute.
Immediately after the decision, Olivarez through her counsel Alexis Mina asked the court to release her on provisional liberty using the P10,000 bail bond she earlier posted during the course of the trial.
"We will pursue all legal remedies to reverse the ruling," Mina said.
Mina likewise said her client is willing to be put under the "custody" of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile on "recognizance" while they are appealing the case but CVC Law lawyers led by Miguel Solis objected on the grounds that she was already convicted and she is a flight risk.
"We oppose the bail since the probability of flight is increasing," Solis said, adding that the accused is also facing 47 similar cases before 11 courts in Makati.
The CVC Law filed separate libel cases against Olivarez and six other Tribune reporters and Thursday's ruling is the first for these cases.
But Olivarez said she remain undaunted by the conviction, adding that she expected it since she is against an influential firm.
"It's clearly an injustice. Aside from the imprisonment, we are still going to pay the fine. That's gross injustice especially since what I've written there is absolutely true. We are expecting a conviction since we have a justice system that is beholden to the powers that be," she said, adding that "she was not in the good graces of the administration."
Olivarez's paper was earlier threatened with closure in 2006 when the Arroyo administration declared a state of emergency after a failed coup attempt by rightist military officers.
Prosecutors said they welcomed the ruling as a triumph of justice.
"We welcome the decision of the court. This is a vindication of our law firm and a triumph of free and fair journalism," said Solis, adding that despite the ruling "The Firm will always defend press freedom in the country."
But he said there is a fine line between press freedom and defending oneself from "unfair and malicious accusation."
"When the line of press freedom is crossed and smear campaign is mounted then we will put our resources to regain our reputation," he said.
Refuting Olivarez's accusation of political motives, Solis said they just wanted her to account for her acts.
For his part, former defense undersecretary and The Firm partner Rodel Cruz said "we are prepared to defend press freedom in much the same way we are prepared to defend our lawyers."
"We firmly support freedom of speech and expression and will continue to fight for its preservation but we do not and will never sit idly by when it is abused to tarnish the professional reputation of our firm-a reputation we meticulously and painstakingly built through more than 28 years of maintaining the highest professional standards. Freedom of the press is never a license to destroy the reputation of private individuals," a one-page statement from the firm said.
To underscore their commitment to press freedom, Cruz said they will donate the P5 million that the court awarded them to the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) as a "legal defense fund" to help broadcast and print journalists unfairly accused of libel. (AH/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (June 5, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
