First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo personally filed a libel complaint yesterday against Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Lacson’s spokesman Lito Banayo and Cavite Rep. Gilbert Remulla before the Manila Prosecutor’s Office.
The Arroyo camp said Lacson became liable for libel when he gave interviews after delivering his privileged speech, in which he accused the First Gentleman of laundering money under the fictitious name "Jose Pidal."
The First Gentleman’s lawyer, Jesus Santos, said Mr. Arroyo did not specify any amount of money to compensate the damage caused by what he called the "baseless accusations" of Lacson, Banayo and Remulla.
In his complaints, the First Gentleman said Lacson’s press conference on Aug. 19, the contents of which were reiterated by Banayo and Remulla, exposed them to libel charges.
Lacson, Banayo and Remulla "have slung all sorts of unsavory remarks and have made all kinds of innuendoes against" the First Gentleman, Santos said in a statement.
"If they are of the mind that they can escape from answering for their criminal acts, they are wrong. The First Gentleman has reached the point where he can no longer sit idly by while his good name is dragged through the mud, while Senator Lacson and his horde smugly watch, in the mistaken belief that he will not act to protect his good name," Santos said. "It is for this reason that the First Gentleman is bringing the instant case for libel against (Lacson, Remulla and Banayo)."
Banayo, on Aug. 20, "authored a libelous article entitled "Jose Pidal," which was published in the Daily Tribune, a newspaper of general circulation in Metro Manila, Santos said.
He said Banayo " also made false and malicious assertions against the First Gentleman in another column in the same newspaper on Aug. 22."
Santos, citing the Supreme Court decision on the Jimenez vs Cabangbang case, outlined the limits of a legislator’s parliamentary immunity to "utterances made by congressmen in the performance of their official functions" and other acts performed by legislators within or outside the premises of Congress "in the official discharge of their duties as members of Congress."
He added that "clearly, respondents Lacson and Remulla mouthed their proven lies to the media and the public outside the session halls of the Senate and the House of Representatives."
Santos added that by doing this Lacson and Remulla "shed any pretense of acting in the official discharge of their duties. It is fact that their repeated lies were not addressed to colleagues for any legislative duty, but only to media for purposes of character assassination and political ambition."
Libel is defined under Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code as "a public and malicious imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status or circumstance tending to cause dishonor, discredit or contempt of a natural or juridical person."
"In their endless campaign to blacken the First Gentleman’s name, Senator Lacson and his cohorts were not acting as senator, congressman or journalist," Santos said.
The acts of Lacson, Banayo and Remulla "of the publication of defamatory remarks against the First Gentleman are plainly and simply criminal and are not protected by (legislative) immunity," Santos said.
"The First Gentleman will not back down from the truth and will not hide from the fight to protect his good name," Santos said. "He has chosen the proper arena for the truth to come out."
"If Senator Lacson and his mob are man enough and believe they can prove (their) claims, they will join (Mr. Arroyo) in the proper forum, which is the prosecutor’s office," Santos said.
He added that the Bank of the Philippine Islands has already denied there were any existing accounts owned by a Jose Pidal in either the BPI Perea Branch or BPI Family Bank.
The Toh family, who Lacson accused of being dummy account holders for Mr. Arroyo, also issued public statements with their lawyers.
They claimed full ownership of the bank accounts identified by Lacson as dummy accounts for the First Gentleman and condemned Lacson for his false accusations.
Lacson’s claims that bank accounts under the fictitious name of Jose Pidal failed to gain ground.
Handwriting experts of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) found that the signatures of Jose Pidal and the First Gentleman were not made by the same person.
These experts pointed out a number of differences in the specimen signatures of Jose Pidal and Mr. Arroyo.