Ex-Customs collector sues Palace exec

CEBU CITY — Two Cebu "titans" are now locked in a court battle.

Former Customs collector David Odilao Jr., insisting he does not want anyone "to monkey around with my name," has filed a P3-million libel suit against presidential liaison officer Elberto Emphasis.

Odilao, in his affidavit, claimed Emphasis besmirched his reputation and caused him wounded feelings and social humiliation by instigating adverse newspaper reports against him.

Odilao, a long-time Customs official and unofficial father of the Sinulog, said Emphasis had a clear intent to defame him when he allegedly instructed a reporter to write that he (Odilao) had borrowed a Cherokee from Luis Quisumbing and failed to return the vehicle.

The report came out in the Cebu Daily News last Aug. 18. — Freeman News Service