Prosecutor junks Sarah Lahbati's case vs GMA Films exec

MANILA, Philippines - The Quezon City Prosecutor's Office has dismissed the four cases filed by actress Sarah Lahbati against GMA Films president Anna Teresa Gozon-Abrogar.

In a decision on February 12, Assistant City Prosecutor Nicazio Rosales found the libel and vexation complaints filed by Lahbati in July 2013 against Abrogar as lacking in probable cause.

Lahbati, a former GMA Network talent, left for the Switzerland for almost a year and returned to the Philippine last July. She then sued Abrogar for allegedly making malicious statements against her in at least two television shows aired in the network.

Also read: Sarah Lahbati sues GMA Films exec for perjury

Lahbati said that Abrogar, daughter of GMA Network chief executive Felipe Gozon, accused her and her mother of asking the network for more assistance and endorsements to boost her career.

Rosales said in the decision that Lahbati failed to establish whether Abrogar was motivated by "ill-will" or "spite" in uttering the alleged defamatory remarks on public television.

"A careful reading of the alleged defamatory imputation readily shows that there is nothing offensive in the language used by the respondent. It is only a truthful expression of her opinion," Rosales said in the decision.

He explained that Abrogar's statements were only in response and in defense to Lahbati's filing of criminal complaints against the station.

"The complainant should not be onion-skinned when she heard or read a reaction or comment to what she did," the state prosecutor said.