SEN. Risa Hontiveros yesterday sued before the Department of Justice (DOJ) a former Senate witness for claiming in a video that has since gone viral on social media platforms that she allegedly paid him P1 million to make false accusations against Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
Aside from Michael Maurilio, alias Rene, Hontiveros also included vloggers Byron “Banat By” Cristobal, Krizette Chu, Alex “Tio Moreno” Destor, Jay Sonza, Jeffrey “Ka Eric” Celiz, and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio as respondents in the complaint for violation of RA 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (cyber libel).
The senator said Maurilio should be held “legally accountable” for his false claims against her in relation to the Senate Committee on Women investigation on Quiboloy’s alleged illegal acts.
She said the vloggers and Topacio should likewise be held accountable for spreading Maurilio’s video and amplifying his claims with their respective false claims against her.
Hontivero said vloggers Trixie Cruz-Angeles, Sass Sasot and four others whom she earlier asked the National Bureau of Investigation to also investigate are not yet off the hook.
She said her office and the NBI are still gathering evidence to include them in the charges.
“We first filed cases against the six vloggers because our legal team has already gathered enough information against them for the crime of cyber libel. The other six whom I asked the NBI to also investigate will be next to be charged),” she said in a chance interview after the case filing at the DOJ.
The vloggers have earlier said they are just exercising their right to freedom of speech when they made comments about Maurilio’s video, adding that what they said were their personal views.
Hontiveros stressed that freedom of speech is not absolute, especially when what those who are exercising it are spreading lies.
Maurilio testified before Hontiveros’ panel on February 2024, claiming that he left the KOJC because he could no longer endure the physical abuse he was getting from Quiboloy and the sexual abuse of a male KOJC official.
He had also claimed that he saw former president Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Sara Duterte visit Quiboloy at the Glory Mountain, where he worked as a gardener, and later left with bags of firearms.
However, Maurilio recanted his testimony in a video uploaded on the Facebook page of a certain Pagtanggol Valiente, and claimed that Hontiveros allegedly paid him P1 million to make the false accusations.
He claimed Hontiveros wanted to nail down Quiboloy so the government can confiscate his properties.
Hontiveros has denied the allegation, saying it was Maurilio who volunteered to testify against Quiboloy and that she did not pay him a single centavo for his actions.
‘SUE RISA’
Vice President Duterte yesterday said Maurilio should file legal charges against Hontiveros in relation to his claims against the senator.
“Kung sa tingin ni alias Rene na siya ay dapat mag file ng kaso, dapat gawin niya din yun para masabi niya ‘yung totoo sa loob ng korte at nakakasagot din ng maayos ang mga akusado sa korte (If alias Rene thinks he needs to file a case, he should do it so he can tell the truth to the court and the accused can also properly answer in court),” she said in an interview at The Hague last Tuesday.
Duterte said that she was able to read Maurilio’s affidavit where he said that he was kept by Hontiveros in a safe house with other witnesses who will be presented before the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is set to try her father for alleged crimes against humanity.
“Sabi niya (Maurilio) na kasama niya sa tirahan ang mga witnesses ng ICC (He said he was in the house with ICC witnesses),” the Vice President said.
Reacting to Duterte’s statement, Hontiveros maintained that the former Senate committee witness lied in the video.
“I stand by my statements I made earlier na pawang kasinungalingan ang nasa video (that the video contains outright lies). If Michael has executed an affidavit containing lies about me and the victim survivors of Quiboloy, then in my opinion this opens him up to perjury in addition to the case I filed today (Wednesday),” she said.
Hontiveros also wondered how Duterte was able to obtain the alleged affidavit of Maurilio which was reportedly done “ahead of his fake news video.”
She did not give additional details about the affidavit. – With Wendell Vigilia
