Batangas mayor threatens libel suit over graft raps report

BATANGAS, Philippines – A mayor here has threatened to file libel suits against several news websites and newspapers, including The STAR, over what he claimed as one-sided reports on the graft case filed against him.

“It’s so unethical, they did not even get our side on the issue. Someone is behind this smear campaign” Bernadette Sabili, wife and chief of staff of Lipa Mayor Meynard Sabili said.

Bernadette said no one contacted them for their comments on the issue. 

She dismissed the allegations against her husband as ”lies and politically motivated.”

In a six-page joint affidavit filed with the Office of the Ombudsman last Thursday, the mayor was accused of misrepresenting himself as a lawyer and a registered broker when he offered to help sell portions of three parcels of land in March 2010 in Muntinlupa City in exchange for a 50,000-square-meter property as his share.

Bernadette said the property was for the “efforts and services” her husband rendered.

She said the complainants voluntarily signed the documents giving the mayor the right to transact business on their behalf. The complainants said the mayor deceived them into signing two agreements to give up their property.

“We were surprised with this smear campaign. Mayor Sabili is not the aggressor here…he’s the victim,” Bernadette said.

She also denied that her husband introduced himself as a lawyer or a licensed broker.