Former Sogod VM indicted for libel

Former Sogod vice mayor Dean Severo Dosado has been indicted for libel in a case filed against him by Sogod mayor Thadeus Durano following the recommendation of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.

Durano filed libel raps against Dosado after he accused the mayor of allegedly pocketing the P30 million proceeds of a loan for the town’s waterworks system.

Provincial prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba approved assistant provincial prosecutor Mario Camomot’s recommendation to charge Dosado with one count of libel before the regional Trial Court. Petralba likewise upheld Camomot’s recommendation to drop the three other libel charges that Durano filed against Dosado for lack of merit.

The case stemmed from an article published in The Freeman on December 19, 2006 wherein Dosado was quoted as saying that, “kami nagduda nga ang filtrations ug chlorinator basin napunta sa bulsa ron.”

Dosado was implying that Durano pocketed the P30 million that the municipal government borrowed from the Land Bank of the Philippines for their water system.

The prosecutor said that the statement made by Dosado was defamatory in nature as the words were calculated to induce the hearers or readers to suppose and understand that the person or persons against whom they are uttered were guilty of certain offenses.

The three other libel charges, which were based on another The Freeman story published on December 15, 2006, an ABS-CBN report aired on December 19, and story published in another newspaper on December 20, were dismissed for lack of evidence.

The Freeman, in its December 15, 2006 issue, reported on the alleged high levels of coliform in the water supply of Sogod town. This triggered the alleged defamatory and libelous statement of Dosado, who is a known political rival of the mayor. Dosado ran but lost to Durano in the last two elections.

The prosecutor’s office recommended a P10,000 bail for Dosado’s temporary liberty as soon as a warrant of arrest is issued against him. The prosecutor is expected to transmit the information of the case on Monday before the criminal division of the RTC. — Fred P. Languido/QSB