Filmmaker Darryl Yap pleaded not guilty to two counts of cyber libel filed by actor-television host Vic Sotto before the Muntinlupa City regional trial court for allegedly defaming his name in connection with the trailer of Yap’s controversial movie “The Rapists of Pepsi Paloma.”
Yap’s legal counsel Raymond Fortun said his client entered the not guilty plea during his arraignment Tuesday before the Muntinlupa RTC.
“Director Darryl Yap pleaded not guilty to both charges of cyber libel,” Fortun told reporters after the proceeding.
Fortun described the proceeding as “very typical and normal,” adding that after the arraignment, pre-trial proceeded where both parties agreed on certain facts, such as the disclosure of evidence to be presented during the trial of the case.
The court sets the first hearing of the case for August 19, but it also sets a mandatory mediation conference prior to that.
During the mediation conference, a court-approved mediator with experience in handling such cases, will try to mediate both parties to reconcile.
To recall, the Muntinlupa city prosecutor’s office found merit in the case filed by Sotto to result in a reasonable certainty of conviction to hold Yap liable for defaming the latter.
The decision to indict Yap before the RTC was contained in a resolution dated March 17 by the city prosecutor’s office.
To recall, Sotto filed a P35 million cyber libel complaint against Yap. At the center of the complaint is the mention of Sotto’s name in the trailer of Yap’s film as one of Paloma’s rapists during a confrontation scene of Gina Alajar with former child actress Rhed Bustamante.
Paloma was a rising sexy actress when she was allegedly sexually abused by three showbiz personalities in 1982.
She died three years later with the police ruling it as a suicide.
The city prosecutor sided with Sotto that the mention of his name in the trailer of Yap’s film was defamatory as it ascribed to him the commission of the alleged crime of rape.
“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 penned by Muntinlupa City Assistant Prosecutor Elvin Keith Barrios said in his resolution.
“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.
But the city prosecutor held that Yap could only be held liable for two counts of cyber libel-not 19 as Sotto claimed in his complaint.
The two cases were in relation to Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 for the posting of the teaser video on his personal Facebook page and on his VinCentiments page.
The resolution recommended a bail of P10,000 for each count.
In January this year, Muntinlupa RTC Branch 205 Presiding Judge Liezl Acquiatan ordered Yap to remove from all platforms the teaser of the film which supposedly portrayed Sotto as one of the alleged rapists of Paloma.
But the court allowed Yap to proceed with the production and eventual release of the film.
