Libel Case Against SLT Dismissed

MAASIN CITY - The 2.2 million peso libel case filed by businessman Diosdado “Dado” Villamor against SLT Publisher Antonio M. Reyes and SLT correspondent Aida Morsen was dismissed yesterday by RTC Branch 25 Presiding Judge Daisy Paler Gonzales for lack of merit.

In her decision dated 24 May 2010 she said the SLT report on suspected illegal quarrying in Maasin was done in good faith and in the public interest.

The Libel complaint Villamor filed was triggered by an SLT article entitled “Illegal Quarrying?” which Villamor claimed had accused him of a crime he did not commit since he had a permit to quarry his property in Barangay Lib-og.

“On the whole,” Judge Gonzales said “the prosecution failed to prove with moral certainty that the accused were animated by a desire to inflect unjustifiable harm on the complainant’s reputation or that the article was written and published without good motives or justifiable ends.

“On the other hand, the accused were able to persuade the court that they acted in good faith and were moved by a sense of civic duty and accountability as members of the fourth estate to bring to the consciousness of the public each one’s responsibility towards preserving and protecting the environment and following the law.”

In her decision Judge Gonzales noted that:

“Ironically, the lack of a permit to quarry at the time of the apprehension was established by the prosecution’s own evidence.

“Evidently, during the interregnum between the expiration of the temporary permit on March 14, 2004 and the issuance of a Quarry Permit on July 4, 2006, the complainant operated without a permit.

“Thus the accused cannot be said to have knowingly fabricated falsehoods and conjured a story out of spite or malice directed at the complainant.”

The case which took six years and three judges to decide was the talk of the town at the time because the complainant was the godson of the publisher’s wife Gloria Markines Reyes who was then the College of Maasin’s Vice President for Academic Affairs. The complainant was in fact the husband of Mrs. Reyes niece Dr. Jocelyn Verano Villamor.

We asked Dr. Reyes who is now the president of the Southern Leyte State University for comments on the case and she said the Libel complaint made no sense and should never have been filed. (By MARK L. RIMAS)

Other News

Lakas-Kampi candidates win big in Southern Leyte

Reyes Reappointed SLSU President

“I’m the LP Chairman here” - Castanares

Maloney Forgives the "3 Kings" statement

Water Shortage Hits City

Libel Case Against SLT Dismissed

May 8, 2010 hottest day on record

Bamboo Plywood replaces Hardwood

Beauty Beats Brawn

Partial Election Results