Tabloid editor, reporter cleared of libel charges

A tabloid editor and an intern reporter were exonerated from a libel charge that a policeman filed based on a published news report that mentioned an erroneous item about the policeman.

In the news report published in Super Balita on May 4, 2007, PO1 Cielito Suerte, instead of being the arresting officer, was named among the arrested persons involved in the illegal numbers game.

Provincial prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba however approved the dismissal of the libel case that the policeman filed by against Super Balita editor Roger Vallena and intern reporter Jeralyn Dulcero for lack of probable cause.

In a two-page resolution, associate prosecuting attorney Jay Paradiang said the respondents did not have personal ill-will against Suerte when they “inadvertently” reported that the policeman was the one who was arrested.

“There is no evidence to show that the respondents… acted solely to injure the person of the complainant,” the resolution read.

It added that the day after the erroneous news report was published, Super Balita issued an erratum and corrected the news,

The act of Vallena and Dulcero in publishing the erratum to acknowledge and correct the mistake was proof that they do not have personal ill-will against the policeman, the prosecutor ruled.  — Fred P. Languido/RAE