TF’s Lastimosa loses libel case

CEBU, Philippines - “Guilty.”

This was the ruling of the trial court on the libel case filed by former governor Gwendolyn Garcia, now congresswoman in the third district, against broadcast journalist Leo Lastimosa over his Arangkada column published in The FREEMAN entitled “Si Doling Kawatan” in 2007. The promulgation or the reading of the decision lasted for 1 hour and 36 minutes.

Judge Raphael Yrastorza Sr., in his 38-page decision, said that based on the evidence presented, he found sufficient grounds to hold the accused liable for the offense.

“While the authorship and publication of the article ‘Si Doling Kawatan’ has been admitted by the accused, he however, vehemently refused to admit that the name ‘Doling’ refers to the governor BUT, at the risk of undue repetition, the governor was cited by name in his previous attacks against the governor. Accused cannot now deny the obvious reference which is clearly apparent in the said article, just to escape the dire consequences of his act,” the decision read.

Yrastorza meted the accused a fine of P6,000 with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency and ordered him to pay P2 million to Garcia for moral damages.

In 2007, Garcia filed a complaint of libel against Lastimosa after reading the article “Si Doling Kawatan” published in The Freeman on June 29, 2007, which, she claimed, refers to her. She alleged that the accused maligned her.

The column tells the story of a fish vendor who became rich after she entered politics.

Garcia alleged that prior to the article “Si Doling Kawatan,” Lastimosa “assaulted” her personally in her policies and actions in manning the Province of Cebu in his column in The Freeman.

She said that in fact, she has filed criminal and civil cases against Lastimosa before the article ‘Si Doling Kawatan’ was published but it was dismissed after reaching a settlement.

Glenn Baricuatro, an employee of the office of former congressman Pablo John Garcia, testified that “Doling” refers to Garcia. He said the accused was one of the vocal critics of Garcia in the media especially in his weekday radio program Arangkada aired over radio station DYAB.

Baricuatro said that aside from attacking Garcia through his radio program, Lastimosa also attacked the latter through his column in the Opinion Section of The Freeman, accusing Garcia of being a “thief, corrupt, arrogant, vindictive, ill-tempered, foul-mouthed and cruel.”

He added that “Doling,” the character used by Lastimosa in his article, was a “cheeky play” on the first name of Garcia.

For his defense, Lastimosa denied that “Doling” refers to Garcia. He said “Doling” was a fictitious name and refers to all, not in particular. He claimed “Si Doling Kawatan” is a work of fiction in the third person narration form.

Lawyer Democrito Barcenas corroborated the testimony of the accused. He said upon reading the article it does not in any way refer to Garcia.

“Doling does not refer to Garcia, because Doling there refers to a certain fish vendor, elected as barangay captain and that Garcia was not a fish vendor nor has she been elected as a barangay captain anywhere in the Province of Cebu,” Barcenas said.

Lawyer Pachico Seares, a former editor of Sun Star Daily, being an independent witness, said a survey was conducted in a Media Issues class at the University of the Philippines - Cebu, which had 15 students.

The students were reportedly asked to read the controversial column, and, out of 15, nine students said Doling refers to Garcia. This survey was published in Sun Star Daily on July 19, 2007 with a title “Who is Doling.”

Yrastorza, in his decision, said, “The court takes note of the various awards that accused had received from different persons/organizations including that given of Garcia yet, instead of improving his lot by not unnecessarily disparaging the good name of anyone, he continued with his attacks on the governor, notwithstanding the filing of a criminal and civil case against his person albeit the same were eventually dismissed although hidden under the pseudonym ‘Doling’ presumptively to hide her real identity. But to the court’s mind, the subterfuge was obvious.”

Yrastorza cited previous court decisions to support his ruling and pointed out the responsibility and the journalist’s code of ethics.

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Lawyer Lito Astillero, who represented Garcia, said justice has been served in the case.

“There was a clear malicious intent by the accused and the judgment of the court is a clear vindication of the complainant because the court has spoken and there was indeed a malicious imputation,” he said.

Lastimosa, however, said he will file an appeal before the Court of Appeals. He said they will not file a motion for reconsideration because they are positive that such will be denied by the court.

His lawyer, Celso Espinosa, pointed out that the identity of the governor was never in relation to his client’s fictional character “Doling” in any of the columns.

“Kung writer gani ka, magcreate gyod kag character sa unod nga available niya (When you are a writer, you always create a character from the knowledge that you have),” Espinosa said.

Moreover, Lastimosa said, “I submitted myself to this process. I respect the decision of Judge Yrastorza but we also respectfully disagree.”

He added that it came to a point where Garcia offered to drop the case if he agreed to cover the Suroy-Suroy Sugbo program on his shows.

“I refused to be used. I will stand my ground and appeal the decision to the higher court,” he said.

The Freeman, where Lastimosa’s column comes out every day, said, in a statement, that the management and staff are saddened by decision of the court in convicting the columnist. “But we respect the decision of the court and leave it to Mr. Lastimosa to pursue whatever actions and other legal remedies he may wish to take from here on. We would like to assure his readers that Mr. Lastimosa will continue writing for The Freeman,” the statement said.

The Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC) and Cebu Media Legal Aid (Cemla) also expressed sadness on the conviction of Lastimosa.

“We are saddened by the decision...It may be noted that no jail term has been imposed by the judge. CCPC and Cemla have advocated not for decriminalizing libel but only for removing the jail term with no subsidiary jail term in case of insolvency. Leo’s right to due process is not over. Let it be pursued freely, without the interference of political or economic power, in the higher courts,” their joint statement read.

Meanwhile, Lastimosa, in his Facebook account, posted the decision with the caption “Convicted by satire. We’ll appeal.” — /QSB (FREEMAN)