Palace man for Eastern Visayas posts bail in libel case

TACLOBAN CITY — Presidential Assistant for Eastern Visayas Victor Domingo avoided arrest when he posted a P10,000 bail the other day in connection with the libel case which City Mayor Alfredo "Bejo" Romualdez filed against him.

The city prosecutor’s office found "probable cause" in Romualdez’s libel complaint and elevated the case to the Municipal Trial Court.

The mayor rapped Domingo for allegedly besmirching his name in a speech during a march-rally on Sept. 11 last year against the city government’s plan to privatize some government-owned institutions and carry out the controversial Comprehensive Omnibus Tax Code.

Domingo was then the president of the Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Domingo himself has filed a libel complaint against the 63-year-old Romualdez, younger brother of former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, for calling him "drug addict, liar, silly, crazy, no good person and ingrate who tried to usurp and grab my (Romualdez’s) bank" in a radio interview prior to the protest rally.

Domingo bewailed the slow action of the city prosecutor’s office on his own libel complaint. "This only shows how powerful the Romualdezes are...They were able to secure postponements after postponements."

Domingo’s lawyer Aurelio Menzon said the city prosecutor’s resolution on the mayor’s libel case has "no basis in fact and in law."

Domingo served as Region 8 director of the Department of Trade and Industry when President Arroyo was then an undersecretary of the department.