City prosecutor reverses dismissal of libel charges against newspaper

CMFR/Philippines – The city prosecutor’s office of Pasig City, Metro Manila, has reversed the dismissal of libel charges against a weekly newspaper based in Dagupan City, Pangasinan.

Dagupan is some 200 kilometers north of Metro Manila.

A resolution of the Pasig City Prosecutor’s Office dated 28 April 2014 granted the motion for reconsideration of City State Savings Bank and found probable cause to file two counts of libel against Sunday Punch publisher-editor Ermin Garcia Jr. and six staff members of the weekly newspaper.

The libel suit stemmed from the report “City State Savings Bank’s electric bills charged to the City Hall,” which appeared as the Sunday Punch’s banner story in its 25-31 August 2013 issue, and the follow-up report “Dagupan EWs to finally get 2-month pay,” which appeared on Sunday Punch’s 1-7 September 2013 issue.

City State Savings Bank’s original complaint, which accused Sunday Punch of four counts of libel, was dismissed because the Pasig City Prosecutors Office determined that the complaint should have been filed in Dagupan and not in Pasig.

On 6 February 2014, City State Savings Bank filed the motion for reconsideration which the Pasig City Prosecutors Office granted, claiming probable cause to file two counts of libel against Garcia and six staff members, and one count of libel against cartoonist Virgilio Biagtan, whose cartoon appeared in the first report.

All the defendants were asked to post bail of PHP10,000 (some USD 200) for each count of libel.

Libel is still a criminal offense in the Philippines despite calls for its decriminalization. In October 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Committee urged the Philippine government to decriminalize its 82-year old libel law in the country, as the CMFR and some journalists’ groups have been urging for nearly two decades.