Kabayan sues 2 for libel

Vice presidential candidate Sen. Noli de Castro filed libel charges yesterday against the two ranking officials of the Bagong Lahing Pilipino Development Foundation, vowing to unmask politicians behind the demolition job against him.

Named respondents in the P400-million libel cases filed by De Castro at the Pasay City Prosecutor’s office were businessman Rafael Engle and Andrew Gonzales, national director of the Bagong Lahing Pilipino Development Foundation, formerly East Pacific AAA Foundation.

The two counts of libel against Engle stems from the claims of the latter that De Castro, as host of the television program Magandang Gabi Bayan, tried to extort from him P2 million in exchange for a favorable story in the show.

On the other hand, the libel charges filed against Gonzales stems from the claim of the latter that De Castro, through his staff, tried to extort P3.5 million from him, also in exchange for a favorable report.

The senator is seeking P200 million from each respondent.

He said that if Gonzales is found guilty of libel, he would give the P200 million to poor Filipinos and individuals who were victimized by the fraudulent scheme allegedly perpetuated by the Bagong Lahing Pilipino Development Foundation Inc.

He said that he intends to give to a foundation which will offer scholarships to poor but deserving students the damages to be recovered from the suit filed against Engle.

"I know that they are just victims of their own financial needs, there are politicians using them to malign me. With this they will be given the chance to mend their ways and tell the truth to the public," De Castro said.

De Castro said that Engle and Gonzales both have made "false, malicious and defamatory statements" against him.

"This is election season. Every candidate is fair game. These two have tried to malign me because I am running for office. Everybody knows who is desperate enough to top the vice presidential surveys," De Castro said.

For his part, Engle welcomed De Castro’s charges.

"I welcome the filing of the libel complaint filed against me by De Castro. This would give me an opportunity to prove my charges against him. Let the courts and the people judge who between us is lying. I also appeal to all other victims of De Castro to come out in the open and expose his extortion activities through the use of his television program," Engle said.

Gonzales also welcomed the charges, saying he is looking forward to confront De Castro in court to prove his allegations against the senator.

"I look forward to confronting him in court so I can prove my allegations and expose him for what he is," Gonzales said.

He said De Castro destroyed his foundation’s reputation after it failed to give the P3.5 million being sought by De Castro.