Amalia loses appeal vs Annabelle, columnist

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice has junked with finality an appeal filed by actress Amalia Fuentes on an earlier resolution that dismissed her libel case against talent manager Annabelle Rama and STAR columnist Bianca Gonzales.

In a two-page resolution sent to the Quezon City prosecutor’s office records division, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Fuentes due to her failure to attach copies of Gonzales’ counter-affidavit in her appeal.

“With this omission, we cannot relax the interpretation of the rules just to countenance litigants who obviously slept on their rights,” De Lima stated in the resolution.

The case stemmed from the article “Love, Laughter & Intrigues with Eddie and Annabelle” that Gonzales wrote for The STAR on Feb. 12, 2012.

Fuentes alleged that the article – which included Rama’s narration of a previous incident between them – was libelous because it caused dishonor, discredit, or contempt of her person.

But in his resolution, Assistant City Prosecutor John Patrick Corpuz said that “as regards the questioned article in the newspaper, a reading of the same reveals that it was a fair and true report of Bianca’s interview of Annabelle.”

He noted that in her counter-affidavit, Gonzales â€œargued that the article she wrote presented the actual statements of Annabelle during her interview of her.”

Fuentes also charged Rama with libel for the latter’s Twitter posts against her. But in the resolution, the prosecutor said that there is no such thing as Internet libel under the Revised Penal Code.