THE Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) in Manila has dismissed the civil case for damages filed by actor Robin Padilla against broadcast company GMA Network Inc., President and COO Gilberto Duavit Jr.; online editor in chief Jaemark Tordecilla and reporter Emil Sumangil for insufficiency of evidence.
Padilla filed the complaint after Sumangil named Padilla in the GMA News TV newscast Balitanghali as the owner of a house where P1 billion worth of liquid methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu was seized. The report was later posted on GMA News Online.
Padilla clailmed that the mention of his name in the news reports was done with malice, and destroyed his reputation and integrity as a public figure.
In her decision dated Judge Ihmie Michiko C. Gacad-Presto of Branch 5 of the MTC of Manila said the news report was not defamatory and that the actual damage to the plaintiff was not sufficiently proven.
The court ruled that the statement cannot be considered defamatory, considering that there is lack of evidence supporting Padilla’s claim that the reports were intended to mislead the readers or viewers of both and that they were delivered to the public to maliciously discredit or injure him.
With regard to the claim for damages, the court said it cannot solely rely on speculations and probability in upholding that Padilla’s public image was, in fact, damaged or injured or both. It added that in order to warrant an award of actual or compensatory damages, the complainant must prove that the damage sustained “is the natural and probable consequence of the negligent act” and that he or she must “adequately prove the amount of such damage.”