MANILA, Philippines — The Quezon City prosecutor’s office has dismissed complaints of cyber libel and cyber unjust vexation filed by retired Commission on Elections commissioner Rowena Guanzon against National Youth Commission chairperson Ronald Cardema for lack of probable cause.
“The undersigned finds no evidence that would constitute a prima facie case for the crimes charged against the respondent,” Assistant City Prosecutor Raphael Joseph Seares said in a resolution issued on Sept. 12.
While it is true that a finding of probable cause needs only to rest on evidence showing that a crime was likely committed, Seares said in response to Guanzon’s complaint that “no such evidence exists that would engender a well-founded belief that such crimes charged were in fact committed by the respondent.”
The resolution was approved by City Prosecutor Vimar Barcellano and Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Flordeliza Lagasca.
Cardema’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, made public excerpts of the resolution on his social media account on Tuesday.
Guanzon sued Cardema in June in response to Cardema’s alleged attacks against her on social media.
Cardema, in several posts on Facebook, accused Guanzon of circumventing the law to get a House of Representatives seat through the Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente at Persons with Disabilities (P3PWD) party-list.
In a news forum, Cardema claimed Guanzon forced all P3PWD nominees to resign so that she could sit as the party-list group’s first nominee in the House.
Sought for comment, Cardema insisted that he never maligned Guanzon in his posts.
In a phone interview, Cardema said Guanzon once called him “dugyot,” a move he described as “very malicious.” Dugyot is a Filipino term often used to describe a person who is untidy or dirty.