MUNTINLUPA CITY – Filmmaker Darryl Yap has been charged with two counts of cyberlibel by the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) following allegations that he defamed actor-television host Vic Sotto in connection with the trailer of Yap’s controversial film, “The Rapists of Pepsi Paloma.”
The decision to indict Yap before the RTC was contained in a resolution dated March 17 by the city prosecutors office.
To recall, Sotto filed a P35 million cyber libel complaint against Yap before the court.
At the center of the cyber libel complaint is the mention of Sotto’s name in the teaser of Yap’s film as one of Paloma’s rapists during a confrontation scene of Gina Alajar with former child actress Rhed Bustamante.
Alajar allegedly portrays Charito Solis, while Bustamante plays Paloma, whose real name was Delia Duenas Smith.
Paloma was a rising star in the 1980s when she was allegedly sexually abused by three showbiz figures. She died three years later, with authorities ruling her death a suicide.
The prosecutor’s office sided with Sotto, stating that the mention of his name in the trailer was defamatory as it imputed the commission of a serious crime — rape — against him. The resolution, penned by Muntinlupa City Assistant Prosecutor Elvin Keith Barrios, noted that the trailer sparked widespread public ridicule and hate comments directed at Sotto.
“The complainant suddenly became the butt of jokes and hate comments that were either lewd or incendiary, which was nothing more than a logical consequence of the controversy sparked by the teaser, since we live in an age where netizens ingratiate themselves with various content on social media on a day-to-day basis,” part of the resolution stated.
“We find that the teaser video was defamatory in nature, as it imputed a serious crime upon the complainant, a conclusion supported by the reactions of the viewers themselves,” it added.
The resolution said Sotto suffered public ridicule and backlash after his name was mentioned in the movie’s trailer as Paloma’s alleged rapist.
However, the prosecutor’s office ruled that Yap could only be held liable for two counts of cyberlibel — related to the posting of the trailer on his personal Facebook page and his VinCentiments page — rather than the 19 counts initially sought by Sotto. The recommended bail for each count is set at P10,000.
In January, Muntinlupa RTC Branch 205 Presiding Judge Liezl Acquiatan ordered Yap to remove the trailer from all platforms due to its defamatory content. However, the court allowed Yap to proceed with the production and release of the full film, citing artistic freedom and public interest.
