DAVAO OCP JUNKS UY’S LIBEL CASE AGAINST ‘BM’

THE Office of the City Prosecutor (OCP) of Davao City has dismissed, for lack of probable cause, the libel and online libel cases filed by businessman Dennis Ang Uy against two Businessmirror officers and two reporters for two articles in October 2021 regarding the Malampaya deal sealed by Uy’s company with a Chevron subsidiary that has a 45-percent stake in the gas field.

“Not all of the above-stated elements [of libel] are present in this case,” said the Joint Resolution signed by City Proscutor Jhopee S. Avanceña, on the recommendation of Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Armand D. Tirol and Prosecutor II Jose Charito L. Cortez II.

Furthermore, said the resolution, “a perusal of the articles complained of shows that the same were not defamatory. When viewed in their entirety and plain meaning, the articles do not impute a finding that impeaches the virtue, credit and reputation of complainant Uy.”

The resolution also pointed out that “the subject articles merely presented a fair and true report of events by quoting certain publicly available documents and information from the graft complaint filed against the complainant and the proceedings before the Senate.” This was a reference to the article by Businessmirror’s energy reporter Lenie Lectura, who even led off in her article about the graft case filed against Uy and thenenergy secretary Alfonso Cusi in the Ombudsman by quoting right away the position of Uy’s Udenna Corp. (UC) that the deal it sealed was legal. “At this juncture, we maintain that the acquisition of UC Malampaya Phils. Pte. Ltd (UCMP) of the shares of Chevron Philippines in Chevron Malampaya LLC is within the parameters of the law,” Lectura quoted Udenna spokesman Atty. Raymond Zorrilla as saying.

Other details in Lectura’s October 19, 2021 article (posted in its web site and then published in the print edition on October 20) stuck faithfully to the proceedings of a Senate hearing on the subject transaction, led by Energy Committee chairman, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, the prosecutor noted.

Lectura also quoted verbatim Cusi’s side as posted on October 19 in the DOE web site.

Samuel Medenilla’s article, meanwhile, quoted the post of the largest and oldest Catholic laity alliance, Layko, on its official web site, calling for a full investigation of the transaction. He added as background the details of the Gatchalian-led Senate hearings as well.

The resolution noted the assertion of respondent Businessmirror officers—its president Benjamin V. Ramos and editor in chief lo ur de sm. fernandez—that they always remind their staff to conduct themselves “in accordance with the norms or code of conduct of the profession and he call for responsible, fearless and authemtic reporting.” They two officers asserted that the articles of Lectura and Medenilla were fair and true reports of the statements in a complaint filed with the Ombudsman, and there “qualifiedly privileged.”

In dismissing the complaint, the Davao city prosecutor said Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code as amended lists the following elements of libel: imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, status or circumstance; public nature of the imputation; malice; imputation is directed at a natural or juridical person or one who is dead; and the imputation tends to cause dishonor, discredit or contempt of the person defamed. The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, on the other hand, penalizes similar libelous acts committed using the computer system. Not all these were present in the Businessmirror case, however.

The complainant, noted the resolution, “also failed to specify which part of the subject articles were based on pure speculaton and conjectures of the writers.”

Before the davao prosecutor dis mis se du y’ s complaint, Cusi submitted an affidavit of desistance in a similar libel and cyber libel case he filed against the same Businessmirror staffers with the Taguig prosecutor’s office.

Last week, Senator Gatchalian filed libel and cyber libel complaints against Cusi before the Valenzuela City prosecutor’s office for, he said, imputing ill motives to him in his initiative to lead the inquiry into the Malampaya deal. Gatchalian said Cusi’s comments, posted on DOE’S web site, cast him in a bad light, as someone doing the inquiry for vested interest; when, in fact, his mandate as Energy committee chief of the Senate is to precisely help people understand important transactions like this.