Nalzaro denies libel raps

CEBU, Philippines - Veteran tri-media personality Pablito “Bobby” Nalzaro has denied imputing malicious insinuations against former congressman Tomas Osmeña.

In his counter-affidavit filed before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office, Nalzaro said his column which saw print in Sun Star on October 25, 2014 was “factual and free of any malicious insinuations.”

In his column, Nalzaro accused Osmeña of allegedly trying to sabotage Mayor Mike Rama’s administration. He claimed that innocent people like city treasurer Diwa Cuevas got caught in the political crossfire.

“Tomas is moving to sabotage Mike’s administration. Unfortunately, because of his obsession to get back at Mike, many innocent people got caught in the political crossfire. An example is OIC city treasurer Diwa Cuevas. Tomas filed several administrative cases against her. Some of those cases were based on fabricated charges,” Nalzaro’s column read.

Osmeña filed a complaint for libel claiming that the comment was malicious and libelous.

 “There was no malice in my use of the word fabricated or the phrase fabricated charges because this description was merely based on the COA Report which did not specifically implicate Cuevas. I could have used a synonym of the word fabricated and it will still mean the same, and there is still no malice,” the counter-affidavit read.

Nalzaro added that he also harbor no ill-feelings towards the former congressman.

Nalzaro said that he had been a journalist for 34 years and had been a newspaper columnist for over 20 years. But, he said, no single libel complaint filed against him was elevated to the court because he knows his limitations and he knew what is allowed by laws.

Meanwhile, Nalzaro asked to hold in abeyance the conduct of the preliminary investigation pending the resolution of his motion asking Regional State Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane to designate an acting city prosecutor to resolve the complaint.

Nalzaro earlier asked for the inhibition of prosecutors Gandhi Truya and Maria Theresa Casiño but the move was turned down for lack of basis.

Truya reportedly refused to inhibit, citing the function of an investigating prosecutor during the preliminary investigation was merely to see if the allegations of facts fall within the element of the offense charged and if there is probable cause.

Casiño similarly refused to inhibit, citing that the allegations of Nalzaro against her “perceived biases” were “merely speculative and unfounded.”

Nazalro believes that Truya could not be objective in resolving the complaint because his father was the subject of the respondent’s commentaries in the past that led to the elder Truya’s suspension as prosecutor.

Casiño, on the other hand, received financial assistance from Osmeña for her hospitalization after she was shot by a litigant in 2013.  (FREEMAN)