By NICOLE-ANNE C. LAGRIMAS, GMA News
Businessman Wilfredo Keng, the private complainant in the cyber libel case against online news site Rappler, is demanding P50 million in damages over the report that he said "ruined" his reputation.
In a September 18 affidavit, Keng sought P25 million in moral damages and P25 million in exemplary damages, an amount that he said he will donate to charity.
"I want to send the message to members of the media that they cannot simply destroy a person's reputation and character, through irresponsible, inaccurate, malicious and unjust reporting, without grave consequences," Keng said.
Rappler's lawyer, former Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te, objected, saying the charge and the pre-trial statement of issues did not contain damages sought, making "any statement on monetary damages" "irrelevant" and "inadmissible."
But Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 overruled the objection.
The Department of Justice is prosecuting Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and former reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr. over an article that says former chief justice Renato Corona used a vehicle registered under Keng's name, who an "intelligence report" supposedly linked to human trafficking and drug smuggling.
In his affidavit, Keng said the vehicle Corona used during the impeachment trial was not his, but added that he remembered lending one of his vehicles to the late chief justice and that "he returned it to me before the impeachment trial began."
The businessman denied that he committed the crimes mentioned in the report. He said his National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) clearance and letters from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency show he has no derogatory record.
"Because of the accused's malicious imputations against me, however, my family and I have been publicly ridiculed and judged, and my reputation as a businessman has been unjustly tarnished," he said.
The trial will resume on October 8. —KBK, GMA News
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/709609/businessman-seeks-p50-m-damages-from-rappler-for-cyber-libel/story/?fbclid=IwAR3WfnpL_haWLhFa4pzCuqkgbp5UGasMa5tlJsYGax3S7oM-XfBE4VgfnoQ
No comments:
Post a Comment