Lastimosa pleads not guilty to libel

CEBU, Philippines – Broadcaster and columnist Leo Lastimosa pleaded not guilty during yesterday's arraignment of his libel case filed before the sala of Judge Raphael Yrastorza of Regional Trial Court Branch 14.

The case was filed against him by Governor Gwendolyn Garcia who felt alluded to in his column "Si Doling Kawatan" published in The FREEMAN on June 29, 2007.

Lastimosa's lawyer Celso Espinosa told the court that he will ask for the records of the investigating panels from the City Prosecutor's Office who earlier junked the complaint filed by Garcia so he can use them as an exhibit for the pre-trial conference on November 12.

"The resolution of the investigating team will be used for the pre-trial conference as an exhibit. The resolution contains numbers of cited jurisprudence caused for the dismissal of the complaint," Espinosa told reporters. Espinosa said that Regional State Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane resolved the case without citing much jurisprudence to support the merits of the case.

Gubalane, in his December 12, 2007 resolution of the libel case against Lastimosa, reversed the recommendation of the investigating panel that threw out the libel case.

Espinosa said one of the essential elements of libel is that the identity of the victim must be firmly established and this character named "Doling" described in the column was not identifiable.

The column reportedly referred to the irregularities in the construction of the Cebu International Convention Center. Earlier Lastimosa went to the sala of Yrastorza to commit himself and post his bail set at P10,000 after receiving reports that an arrest warrant had been issued against him. (FREEMAN)