DOJ junks petition of union officials

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed the petition for review on the libel case filed by the former union president of the Visayan Electric Company (Veco) and a trade union official.

Claro Arellano, prosecutor general who signed on behalf of the justice secretary, stated in a resolution that former VECO Employees Union president Casmero Mahilum and Joy Lim, directress and head of the education and information department of the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, failed to attach to the petition a copy of the motion to defer proceedings duly filed in court, in violation of Section 5 of Department Circular No. 70 dated July 3, 2000.

Section 12 (b) of the said circular provides that the DOJ secretary may dismiss outright a petition for review if any of the requirements provided has not been complied with.

In effect, the appellants’ right to appeal is lost.   

Lim and Mahilum filed a petition for review of the Resolution of the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office in NPS Docket No, VII-09INV-09-I-02240 finding probable cause against them for libel.

Mahilum and Lim were charged for libel last year for allegedly uttering defamatory remarks against the late Luis Alfonso Y. Aboitiz, whose family manages the power distributor.

It was Jose Y. Aboitiz, brother of Luis Alfonso, who filed the libel complaint against the two. The latter died last May 17, 2008.

According to Jose Aboitiz, Lim and Mahilum helped each other in printing and circulating the press release that adversely affected the reputation of his late brother. – (FREEMAN)