Actor-television host Vic Sotto yesterday took the witness stand before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court in the cyber libel case he filed against film director Darryl Yap for allegedly defaming him in connection with the trailer of the latter’s controversial movie “The Rapists of Pepsi Paloma.”
In taking the witness stand, Sotto said the movie teaser of Yap’s film made it appear that he was involved in the abuse of Paloma and subjected his wife and daughter to online attacks and ridicule.
Sotto was assisted by his counsel Enrique Dela Cruz Jr.
He was also accompanied by his wife, actress Pauleen Luna-Sotto, to the court.
He said that because of the teaser in Yap’s movie that portrayed him as one of the alleged rapists of Paloma, he and his family were subjected to online attacks, threats and ridicule.
“They especially disparaged my name, eroded my reputation, discredited my social standing and diminished my esteem, self-respect and goodwill, which has taken me a lifetime to build and protect, as I was unfairly branded as a rapist without any factual basis, and as suggested in the teaser video,” Sotto said in his affidavit which his camp submitted to the court.
What made it worse, he added, is the fact that Paloma herself said there was no truth to the allegations and that the case against him had long been dismissed.
In his affidavit, Sotto claimed Yap did all these to generate buzz and invite unwarranted attention from the public considering the latter’s wide following on social media.
Sotto also said his wife even received a message accusing him of being a rapist while another message asked if he also did the same to the actress.
It can be recalled that the Muntinlupa City Prosecutor’s Office, in a resolution dated March 17 this year, indicted Yap for two counts of cyber libel based on Sotto’s complaint.
Sotto earlier filed a P35 million cyber libel complaint against Yap.
In the said resolution, the Muntinlupa 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.
“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,” the resolution said.
It added that Sotto suffered public ridicule and backlash after his name was mentioned in the movie’s trailer as Paloma’s alleged rapist.
Paloma was a rising sexy actress when she was allegedly sexually abused by three showbiz personalities.
She died three years later with the police ruling it as a suicide.
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.
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.
Yap previously said he had no intention of damaging or hurting Sotto’s reputation.
