UST law dean sets P120-M libel raps

MANILA, Philippines — University of Santo Tomas law dean Nilo Divina is turning the tables on his accusers, Patricia Paz Bautista, the estranged wife of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista, and her lawyer Lorna Kapunan.

Divina will seek damages from Bautista and Kapunan totaling P120 million in two separate complaints to be filed before the prosecutor’s offices in Manila and Quezon City.

In the first complaint in Manila, Divina cited as basis the false and “malicious” public allegations made by the two that his law firm Divina Law Office gave commissions to the Comelec chief for cases in the commission that they handled or allegedly referred.

He sought P50 million as moral damages and P10 million as exemplary damages, the draft complaint obtained by The STAR read.

Divina alleged that the respondents destroyed the reputation he has built for years as an academic and lawyer.

“In this case, respondents publicly accused me, complainant Divina Law and its lawyers with the commission of a crime or wrongdoing. Respondents wanted to publicly convey through their statements before media that this crime or wrongdoing was committed when complainants ‘paid’ to Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista, ‘his sister Susan, and to the mother and the father’ because SMARTMATIC is supposedly the complainants’ ‘number 1 client,’” he stressed.

The unequivocal insinuation is that the complainants committed corrupt acts or wrongdoing through the supposed payments they made to Bautista in order to favor complainants’ client/s, according to Divina, adding that it is defamatory beyond doubt, as a condition that is dishonorable and shameful and exposed the complainants to public ridicule and contempt was imputed.

Divina also cited the respondents’ public release and disclosure of their disbarment complaint against him and his associates in the law firm before the Supreme Court despite the strict confidentiality rule on disbarment cases.

Public insinuation on hazing

In his second complaint in Quezon City, Divina cited as basis the public insinuation by Kapunan of his liability in the fatal hazing of UST law freshman Horacio Castillo III by his fraternity, Aegis Juris.

Divina sought similar amount of P60 million for damages, but named only Kapunan as respondent.

“Respondent’s statements easily show that respondent ascribed to me the commission of a crime,” he said, explianing that Kapunan wanted to publicly convey that he violated the Anti-Hazing Law and/or of Presidential Decree 1829 or the Act Penalizing Obstruction of Apprehension and Prosecution of Criminal Offenders supposedly by directly recruiting Castillo and giving assurance to his parents there would be no physical harm involved in his initiation, among other reasons.

Such baseless allegations, according to Divina, cast doubt on his reputation and tend to dishonor and discredit him and put him in a very bad light.

“The statements further imply dishonesty and lack of virtue on my part because my assertion that I had no knowledge whatsoever about the recruitment of Atio or the hazing was being projected as a lie. That the supposed perpetrators went to my house after the hazing incident implies that I was coddling persons who may be responsible for the crime making me somehow complicit therein,” he further alleged.

Divina reiterated that he had nothing to do with the hazing since he took a leave of membership from the fraternity when he became dean eight years ago.

“I have already explained before the Senate UST’s strict policy against hazing and the requirement of the Office of the Student Affairs on student organizations,” he stressed.