MANILA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday said it has filed cyber libel charges against Michael Maurillo, the Senate witness who posted a video claiming Senator Risa Hontiveros coerced and paid him to testify against Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
Speaking to reporters, Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon said the case "has been filed already," adding that the charge is bailable.
On the other hand, separate cyber libel complaints against six other personalities, including lawyer Ferdinand Topacio and former broadcaster Jay Sonza, were dismissed, Fadullon said.
Hontiveros filed the complaints against Maurillo and six others in July last year.
She said the video, which became viral, is “a systematic and deliberate attack on witnesses and those who bravely came forward.”
Maurillo, who also goes by the name "Rene," appeared as a witness in the Hontiveros-led Senate investigation into Quiboloy and his group, Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), last year.
Maurillo initially accused Quiboloy and other KOJC officials of physical abuse, forced labor and maltreatment, but later on claimed that Hontiveros paid him PHP1 million to make the testimony before the Senate. (PNA)