Lastimosa's lawyer: "Doling" not Governor Garcia

CEBU, Philippines – "Doling" is not Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.

This was what the lawyer of Broadcaster and columnist Leo Lastimosa said during the pre-trial conference of the libel case the governor filed against Lastimosa for his column published in The FREEMAN on June 29, 2007 titled "Si Doling Kawatan".

Lawyer Celso Espinosa said nowhere in the column was it specified that Doling was Garcia.

Lastimosa was not present during pre-trial conference yesterday as he was attending a seminar in Manila. Garcia was also absent as she was in the Ukraine.

Capitol spokesman Rory John Sepulveda, who is also representing the governor, said he will present four witnesses to testify in court that the Doling in the column is indeed Garcia.

Sepulveda yesterday presented articles of Lastimosa published on different dates in The FREEMAN that allegedly talked about Garcia.

Espinosa said that this surprised him because these articles were not presented during the preliminary investigation and now Sepulveda wants them admitted as evidence.

"No basis of denying or admitting it, when the case was under the preliminary investigation they never presented it," Espinosa said.

Espinosa also said that the column written by Lastimosa was not malicious as the column did not malign anyone.

He, however, told the court that he will ask for the records of the investigating panel from the City Prosecutor's Office that earlier junked the complaint filed by Garcia so he can use these as an exhibit in the case.

"The resolution of the investigating team will be used for the trial as an exhibit. The resolution contains numbers of cited jurisprudence, cause for the dismissal of the complaint," Espinosa told reporters.

Espinosa said one of the essential elements of libel is that the identity of the victim must be firmly established and this character named "Doling" described in the column was not identifiable.

While the camp of Lastimosa said they are open to a settlement, Sepulveda said he doubts this will happen.

"I don't think so there will be settlement in the case since the other party specified in their reply no settlement will happen," he said.

It was Judge Raphael Yrastorza who told both parties that there will be mediation after the pre-trial of the libel case.

Both camps have yet to decide the date of the mediation. (FREEMAN)