Publication Not Libelous Raps vs. Vidal, priests junked

CEBU, Philippines – The libel case filed against Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and three other church officials was dismissed yesterday.

The dismissal by the Provincial Prosecutor was due to the lack of essential elements to rule a libel case.

The case was filed by former Marian monk Venancio Cabillon.

In a resolution approved by Provincial Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba, the libel case against Vidal and Fr. Marnell Mejia, Msgr. Cristobal Garcia, and Abelio Manila a.k.a Frater Martin Mary was dismissed since the complaint lacked one requisite for an imputation to be called libelous.

Cabillon filed the libel complaint against the respondents after he claimed that the August 9, 2009 publication of the “Bag-ong Lungsoranon,” which bore a notice to the public of his disconnection from the church, was allegedly done in bad faith.

The said issue of the “Bag-ong Lungsoranon,” which is the official newsletter of the Archdiocese of Cebu, stated that Cabillon was no longer connected to the Marian Monks of the Eucharistic Adoration since January 8, 2009.

It added that “any transactions or solicitations of funds bearing the name of the congregation in his behalf is considered illegal and punishable by law.”

The notice also included the grounds for disconnection of Cabillon from the monks based in Simala, Sibonga, which included committing grave faults against the religious vows of the order, as a trafficker of their members of the religious formation and also violated the vows of chastity and obedience.

The respondents filed a counter-affidavit for the charge and stated that the notice was not libelous.

They pointed out that libel would only be proven if it would be defamatory, malicious, given publicly and the victim is identifiable.

They stated that only the defamatory and malicious elements would need to be proven since the last two elements were not disputed by the parties.

Cabillon already said that the notice in the publication was defamatory and malicious since aside from the notice of disconnection, it allegedly bore false grounds on why he was taken out from the church.

However, the respondents explained that the notice was not libelous since it was merely informing the public of the monk’s disconnection.

The office of the prosecutor also did not find the notice libelous since according to the resolution, “it appears nothing more than a simple notice of disconnection of a certain individual from a certain group.”

It was also explained that the notice was published in the official newsletter with only certain members of the Catholic Community as a limited clientele and has ecclesiastical affairs of a certain religious group thus would have the readers to take the article as a plain notice of disconnection.

The resolution stressed that while the imputation had some defamatory implications to Cabillon, “the same may not be true to the eyes of the ordinary subscribers of the newsletter.”—/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)