Quezon City court orders ABS-CBN to answer Willie's plea

MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City court has given television network ABS-CBN 15 days to answer the plea of host Willie Revillame for “judicial confirmation” of the rescission of his contract as host of the noontime show “Wowowee.”

“You are hereby required within 15 days after service of this summons upon you, to file with this court and serve on the plaintiff your answer to the complaint,” Mary Ann Plata Daytia, clerk of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 84, said in the summons.

“If you fail to answer within the time aforesaid, the plaintiff will take judgment against you by default and may be granted the relief applied for in the complaint,” she told the network. The summons was served on Aug. 31.

Revillame is asking for more than P11 million in damages and legal fees from the TV network. He said he filed the complaint “so the public may know the truth as to who really is the aggrieved party, who truly is at fault, who has been insincere, who acted with evident bad faith, and who broke promises.”

He said he entered a contract with the network as host of “Wowowee” in September 2008 for a period of three years. Last May 25, the station suspended the host for three months without pay, after he publicly asked the network to sack talent and showbiz scribe Jobert Sucaldito over the latter’s tirades against him.

Revillame said that on July 10, it was agreed that he would return to “Wowowee” on July 31. But during a meeting on July 20, he was told that the network had changed its mind and instead offered him a once-a-week program on prime time and a show on Studio 23.

The network purportedly wrote him a letter dated July 26 about this. He wrote back on Aug. 9, rescinding his contract with the TV station and held a press conference about it.

Revillame claimed the network breached the provisions of their contract when it suspended him without pay, cancelled Wowowee, and downgraded his program from three hours daily or 18 hours weekly to just one hour weekly, or 17 hours less.

He also claimed the network placed him on probation without assurance of reinstatement, and also downgraded his appearance from a “live” to a “pre-recorded” program. He said he was also deprived of his earning from “in-show” product endorsements that have become part of his compensation package. He also complained against the alleged “deliberate sabotage” of his image by the network.