CMFR Philippines Libel Update: Presidential spouse files libel vs. columnist

A well-known hard-hitting columnist and broadcaster was sued for libel by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s husband for the former’s alleged defamatory articles linking the first gentleman to smuggling activities.

In his formal complaint filed last 06 September, Jose Miguel Arroyo said that columnist and popular hard-hitting television broadcaster Ramon Tulfo maliciously linked him to the alleged smuggling activities of businessmen Sammy Lim, Vicky, and Thomas Oh.

Also included in the 14-count, P22-million (US$440,000) lawsuit filed before the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office were the editors of national daily Philippine Daily Inquirer and Manila-based tabloid Bandera (Flag).

Arroyo’s complaint stemmed from a series of columns Tulfo wrote for the Inquirer and Bandera early this year, accusing the President’s husband of protecting suspected smuggler Lee. Vicky Toh, an associate of Lee, was said to be a mistress of Arroyo.

Tulfo claimed in his columns that his hard-hitting comments against the suspected smugglers incurred the ire of Arroyo, resulting in the withdrawal of the his Marines bodyguards that were reportedly provided by President Arroyo.

The columnist also blamed Arroyo for the cancellation of the Tulfo brothers’ – Ramon, Ben, and Erwin – television program on the government-run Channel 9.

Arroyo denied the charges.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed an extortion case against Tulfo on 08 September, just two days after he was charged with libel by Arroyo. The columnist suspects that Arroyo was also behind the “extortion” case.

“I can’t understand why he would order the NBI to fabricate a story about my supposed extortion activities at the Customs bureau. The President’s husband, who has everything at his fingertips, was my close friend and confidant. I could have taken advantage of that closeness by asking him for million-peso government contracts. I never did,” he said.

Tulfo added he had taken everything in stride, being deprived of his TV and radio programs, having bodyguards taken away from him, and then the libel suits charged against him.

“But I have to admit the filing of extortion charges hurt. The people who supposedly filed the extortion charges against me with the NBI, except for two, are not known to me. I haven’t seen or met them in person,” he said.

Salgado, a former correspondent of dwIZ, was Tulfo’s insider at the Bureau of Customs, gathering information of interest for his column. Tulfo said he dissociated himself from him a long time ago when he learned Salgado was using his name.

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