Coyiuto mulls P101-M countersuit vs Yuchengco

Businessman and former Manila Chronicle chairman Robert Coyiuto said he is talking with his lawyers on possibly filing a countersuit after the Court of Appeals (CA) dismissed a P101-million libel suit filed against him and the newspaper’s former editors and reporters by businessman Alfonso Yuchengco.

“Should circumstances warrant, the monetary award would all be shared by the families of the mediamen,” Coyiuto said, adding that he is elated that the CA “has once again championed freedom of the press.”

In its Aug. 28 decision, the CA reversed its March 18 ruling that found former editors and reporters of the defunct Manila Chronicle Publishing Corp. guilty of libel and ordered them to pay Yuchengo the amount of P101 million.

The CA said the March 18 ruling would have a “devastating and catastrophic effect” on the freedom of speech and of the press.

In its March 18 decision, the CA affirmed Nov. 8, 2002 order of the Makati City Regional Trial Court which held that Coyiuto, Raul Valino, Neal Cruz, Ernesto Tolentino, Noel Cabrera, Thelma San Juan, Gerry Zaragoza, Rodney Diola and Donna Gatdula were guilty of libel.

In his complaint, Yuchengco alleged that in the last quarter of 1994, the Manila Chronicle published a series of defamatory articles against him branding him as a “Marcos crony” and naming him as a “corporate raider.”

Yuchengco further said the articles accused him of acting as a dummy for the Marcos and Romualdez clans in Benguet Corp., which sought to take over the management of Oriental Petroleum Mineral Corp.

The CA said when public figures complain of libel, the provision must be construed in the light of the constitutional guarantee of free expression and upholding the standard of actual malice with the necessary implication that a statement regarding a public figure, if true, is not libelous.

The CA noted that the articles dealt with the operations of corporations that are imbued with public interest considering that Benguet Corp. and Oriental Petroleum are both publicly listed corporations to which the general public, more particularly, the small investors, have a stake.      – Mike Frialde