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NEWSPAPER editor Niñez Cacho-Olivares, also known as a
feisty columnist, has to pay over P5 million in moral
damages to plaintiffs in a libel case after she was
found guilty Thursday and sentenced to six months to two
years in jail by the Regional Trial Court in
Makati.
Judge
Winlove Dumayas found the complaint of lawyer Arthur
Villaraza and the Villaraza & Angangco Law Offices (now
Villaraza Cruz Marcelo, Angangco Law Offices) well
founded.
The
judge also directed Olivares, the publisher and editor
in chief of The Daily Tribune, to pay the complainants
the amount of P4,000 as fine and to pay Villaraza an
additional P33,732 plus interests for actual damages.
“Definitely, I’m not guilty of libel. It’s an injustice.
What was written there was not libel,” Olivares
maintained.
She also
disclosed that she has been seeking the consolidation of
the 47 cases still pending against her and several
Tribune reporters filed by the CVC, now the name by
which the law firm is known.
She is
free on bail—the same she posted when arraigned—pending
finality of the case according to her counsel, Alexis
Medina.
He said
they would appeal for reconsideration, particularly the
prison term, in light of a new circular by the Supreme
Court (SC) in connection with libel cases. SC
Administrative Circular 08-2008 urges judges to prefer
imposing fines over prison terms in libel convictions.
The
libel case sprang from her June 28, 2003, article “Firm
Partners Ensure Victory for AEDC (Asia’s Emerging Dragon
Corp.)” that was part of the 48 articles published in
her newspaper from May to July 2003 accusing the law
firm of extortion in connection with the controversial
Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 contracts.
Specifically, lawyer Miguel Silos, partner of CVC, said
Olivares maliciously imputed, among others, that the law
firm has a hold in the Arroyo administration’s legal
arena and it has pervasive power and influence over the
Judiciary and other government offices.
Judge
Dumayas said in his decision, “Private complainants were
no doubt exposed to public contempt and ridicule because
of the article. No amount of reasoning or
rationalization from the accused can erase from the
minds of the readers of The Daily Tribune of the
derogatory statements against the private
complainants.”
Thus,
the judge said, the article is defamatory and the first
element of libel—the allegation of a discreditable act
or condition concerning another— is present. Because of
the presence of the first element, he added the last
element, malice, “is presumed.”
The
lower court junked the claim of Olivares that the
article is a privileged communication because it was not
written and published in reckless disregard and it
constitutes fair and reasonable comment on a matter of
public interest.
It noted
that the accused failed to prove that she exercised a
degree of care in coming up with the article. Dumayas
said there was also no evidence to establish that
Olivares exerted efforts to verify the truth of the
defamatory statements against the private complainants.
The
partners of the law firm welcomed the decision, saying
that Olivares’s conviction “is a vindication for the
firm and a triumph of fairness and accuracy in
journalism.”
“We
firmly support freedom of speech and expression and will
continue to fight for its preservation. But we do not
and will never stand idly by when it is abused to
tarnish the professional reputation of our firm …” said
the CVC.
It added
that the firm is determined to get Olivares’s conviction
in the remaining 47 libel cases pending before various
courts. |
