THE Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office has issued subpoenas against former Duterte administration spokesman Herminio “Harry” Roque and vlogger Byron “Banat By” Cristobal in relation to the cyber libel cases filed by formerr senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
Trillanes posted copies of the subpoenas on his X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday night but redacted most parts of the document.
A subpoena is issued by a court or Congress to compel a person to give testimony on a particular subject. Failure to comply with such an order to appear may be punishable with contempt.
“The subpoenas are out,” Trillanes said in the caption.
The visible portions of the subpoenas showed they are for violation of certain sections of Articles 353 to 355 of the Revised Penal Code, or the cyber crime of libel.
Trillanes last month sued Roque and Cristobal for cyber libel for their supposed “persistent online attacks and the dissemination of false accusations.”
He cited as proof a video posted on Facebook by Roque accusing him of allegedly giving away Scarborough Shoal to China.
Cristobal, he told the court, replayed Roque’s video in his own post and expressed a concurring statement on the latter’s remarks.
“Despite my repeated explanations on what transpired during my backchannel talks, including official statements from incumbent government officials during Senate hearings conducted that we did not lost Scarborough, these pro-Duterte personalities continue to harp on this fake news to deflect blame from the Duterte administration,” Trillanes said before filing the complaint.
In reaction, Roque welcomed the filing of charges against him, saying: “Bring it on!”
He added: “He who cannot fight in the free marketplace of ideas resort to the filing of libel cases! By filing these cases, he has proven to be an enemy of freedom of expression.”
Cristobal has yet to make a comment until now.
Aside from Roque and Cristobal, Trillanes said he will also sue individuals who will similarly spread disinformation and libelous statements about him.
