The SC on libel: The Bustos Principle

Here’s a piece of advice for court judges who hear libel cases filed by government officials against journalists: Read up on jurisprudence concerning libel.

Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Evangeline Cabochan-Santos was probably asleep when the subject of libel was taken up in her law class.

Cabochan-Santos convicted Baguio-based freelance journalist Frank Cimatu of cyber libel filed by former Agriculture secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol.

The judge sentenced Cimatu to serve up to five years in prison and pay Piñol P300,000 in moral damages.

The case stemmed from a wisecrack Cimatu made on his Facebook wall in 2017: “Agri Sec got rich by 21 M in 6 months. Bird flu pa more (Let’s have more bird flu).”

The magistrate is apparently clueless – and therefore should be informed – about the so-called Bustos Principle of the Supreme Court concerning libel cases.

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I wrote about the Bustos Principle in this space on March 31, 2022 and had she read it, Judge Cabochan-Santos would have become educated.

The Bustos Principle states, “A public official, especially an elected one, should not be onion-skinned. Strict personal discipline is expected of an occupant of a public office because a public office is a property of the public. He is looked upon to set the example of how public officials should correctly conduct themselves even in the face of extreme provocation. Always he is expected to act and serve with the highest degree of responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency and shall remain accountable for his conduct to the people.”

That ruling on libel, which stems from a landmark case in 1918, admonished officials who were severely criticized for their actions: “Let the balm of a clear conscience soothe your pain.”

(Digressing, the Supreme Court ruling apparently doesn’t apply to private individuals who are wronged by irresponsible journalists. Billionaire tycoon Wilfredo Keng’s libel case against the news website Rappler prospered because he is a private individual. Rappler said Keng was a murderer and drug trafficker.)

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Surprisingly, many prosecutors and judges are not aware of the Bustos Principle. For why would these supposedly learned men or women send journalists to jail for doing their job of exposing irregularities in government?

Even if a journalist was inaccurate in reporting certain shenanigans in government, the prosecutor or judge to whom the libel complaint is assigned should be guided by the Bustos Principle.

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Now, back to Piñol, who’s my compadre (I stood as a godfather to his daughter’s baptism many years ago). As a former journalist, he should have known that being defamed comes with the territory as a public official.

Piñol gloated over Cimatu’s conviction. He said, “Press freedom isn’t absolute.” He should have realized, though, that he also stepped on other people’s toes while doing his job when he was still one of us.

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In the United States, whose Constitution is the basis for our own, libel is not a criminal offense but a civil case for damages.

In other advanced democracies in Europe, libel is also a civil case.

It’s high time a law was passed in the Philippines decriminalizing libel.

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But government bigwigs want to retain the status quo because libel is their weapon to keep reporters, editors and columnists off their backs while they do as they please with their power.

“What are we in power for?” a legislator once said.

Libel goes against our constitutional freedoms of speech and the press.

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To consider libel a crime of moral turpitude is the height of idiocy.

Turpitude is defined in the dictionary as “inherent baseness; depravity.”

What’s depraved about exposing government officials who steal from public funds or abuse their power?

Libel should not be placed in the same category as rape, theft, robbery, murder and kidnapping.

Senators and congressmen who accuse my brother Erwin of having committed moral turpitude because of his conviction by a lower court for libel better look at themselves in the mirror.

Aren’t some of them committing moral turpitude by absconding with people’s money big time? Isn’t that hypocrisy of the highest order?

On the matter of Erwin having impregnated many women, some legislators who point an accusing finger at him inadvertently point three fingers at themselves.

Except for a very few, government officials cheat on their wives or husbands. C’mon, you know who you are! Huwag tayong ipokrito (Let’s not be hypocrites).