Ex-Top Gear editor ordered arrested over cyber-libel
MANILA, Philippines — In what could be considered an unprecedented order under the anti-cybercrime act, a Manila court issued a warrant of arrest against a former car magazine editor-in-chief who is facing a cyber libel complaint.
Acting Presiding Judge Amy Ana De Villa-Roser of the the Manila Regional Trial Court's Branch 12 signed the warrant dated Feb. 27, 2018 against Vernon Sarne, who held a top post at Top Gear Philippines until 2016
Sarne is accused of identifying a wrong person on Facebook as the gunman in a July 2016 road rage incident.
Complainant Nestor Punzalan filed a case as he was wrongfully identified as the killer by the magazine.
The arrest warrant was made public after the Depatment of Justice indicted Sarne for the offense.
The court recommended a bail of P10,000 for his release.
Sarne previously apologized and stepped down from the top editorial post. In an essay on online magazine Visor he founded, Sarne maintained that the raw information naming the wrong killed came from the police.
" It wasn’t fake news, just an honest mistake on the part of their witness. I posted an apology and offered to resign. I wanted to show that editorial correctness should be taken seriously, even if it meant walking away from the one job I loved more than anything else," Sarne wrote. — Rosette Adel
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