QUEZON City Mayor Joy Belmonte yesterday said she has filed a cyber libel case against AnaKalusugan party-list Rep. Mike Defensor for allegedly maligning her and for abusing the constitutional right to free speech.
“I have recently filed a cyber libel complaint against the Congressman because of two particular posts that crossed the boundaries of free speech,” Belmonte said in a statement. Also charged with Defensor were May Guia Padilla, Carmelo Paulo Bayarcal, and Oliver Macatangay. In particular, Belmonte sued Defensor for claiming on his social media accounts that the incumbent city executive has supposedly organized a “baklas” army to remove his campaign materials in the city. The post described Belmonte as “mapanghati, mapanira, kasuka-suka, at kapit-tuko sa kapangyarihan (divisive, slanderous, sickening, and grasping tightly to power). In another post, Defensor said that a Quezon City Hall employee was set to file a plunder case against Belmonte at the Office of the Ombudsman because of her administration’s purported “overpriced ayuda.”
Defensor had echoed this overpricing allegation repeatedly in both online and offline channels, despite the fact that several fact-checking organizations, and even the Commission on Audit itself, have gone on record to say that no irregularities took place. Belmonte stressed that Defensor’s social media tirades were “libelous, malicious, false, and fraudulent” which “necessitate legal action.”
“I don’t usually look at Facebook pages, especially if I know that they would be of no use or benefit. In truth, as soon as he [Defensor] decided to run for mayor, we already knew that he would engage in the kind of behavior he is now displaying,” Belmonte said. “I have to stand for my own rights if I am to stand for the rights of our people. As a public official, I have a sworn duty to uphold the law,” she added.
Quezon City Legal Officer Atty. Niño Casimiro said that there is no question that all elements of the crime of Libel in relation to the Cybercrime Act of 2012 are present such as an imputation of a crime, vice or defect in the posts and they were irresponsibly made public with unconscionable malice and with full knowledge that they are false. Casimiro added that the posts were purposely made to cause the dishonor, discredit, and destroy the reputation of Belmonte.
The Defensor allegations were allegedly reposted in the social media pages Batang QC, Kurapsyon QC, Taga Quezon City Ako, Quezon City Gladiators, DDS ng Quezon City, and Lente ng Kyusi. So far, Belmonte’s camp has identified 102 posts which may be counted as unique and can qualify as individual cases of libel. “Each fake news made by Congressman Defensor or any from his camp, we make it sure that they will be held accountable under the law,” Casimiro said.
