Iggy mulls legal action on publication of custody case

Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo is preparing to file charges against the newspapers that published the issue of custody of his nine-year old daughter, his lawyer and spokesman said yesterday.

Ruy Rondain said Arroyo is planning to file libel charges against the newspapers that came out with the story in violation of the confidentiality clause of Republic Act 9262, or the law against violence against women and their children.

Rondain said the newspapers based their stories on confidential records kept at the sala of Judge Rosalina Luna Pison of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 107.

"Records of the case are strictly confidential, but they have spread," Rondain said.

He said the reported gag order issued by the court is just a reiteration of the law banning the publication of the identities of persons and the details involved in domestic and family disputes pending before a court.

"We are now preparing our legal action, including the possible filing of libel cases against the persons and newspapers which carried allegations that are damaging to Mr. Arroyo," Rondain said.

Rondain pointed out that under the law, the identities of the child and the parties involved in the domestic dispute should not be made public.

Anyone from the parties involved can initiate a legal action for contempt or separately charge those who will disclose the details of the case, he said.

Lorna Kapunan, legal counsel of Alicia Arroyo, declined to issue any statement, pointing out that the court has already issued a gag order on the parties involved in the case.

"I will be cited for contempt if I issue any statement," she said.

Kapunan, though, denied disclosing the details of the case by saying anyone can have access since they are of public record.

Rondain, for his part, declined to further discuss the case. He said they will take legal action against the newspapers that published the story next week.

"You can only discuss the law but not the details of the case which is pending in court," Rondain said.

The case involved the custody battle over the nine-year-old daughter of the Negros lawmaker and his estranged wife.

The court has granted a 30-day temporary protection order to Mrs. Arroyo while the custody battle over their daughter is ongoing.

Pison approved the protection order requested by Mrs. Arroyo, who had claimed that unidentified men have been tailing her since her lawmaker husband sought parental custody over their daughter.

The court ordered the congressman to maintain a 100-meter distance from his wife and daughter.

Aside from the issuance of the order, Pison also instructed a social worker to evaluate the condition of the couple’s daughter. It also ordered a pre-trial conference between the two camps.

Reports said Arroyo left their home in La Vista subdivision in Quezon City last year. In January, the Negros lawmaker filed a petition to have custody of his daughter.

Reports also quoted Mrs. Arroyo as saying that ever since her husband got involved in the "Jose Pidal" scandal, their life as a couple worsened.