Mike Arroyo loses libel case vs Frank Chavez

The Manila Regional Trial Court has dismissed the libel complaint filed by first gentleman Mike Arroyo against former solicitor general Francisco Chavez for linking the presidential spouse to the P728 million fertilizer funds scam. In a five-page order, Manila RTC Judge Zenaida Daguna found no probable cause to hold Chavez for libel based on the statements that he supposedly uttered and which were printed in several newspapers. "Beyond doubt, the complaint is patently defective and for this reason alone, the present complaint must be dismissed," the court said. "The acts and lives of public figures are more open to criticism, comments and remarks. Private complainant, therefore, cannot claim that he was defamed by the above-stated articles," the court added. The court also said Mr Arroyo could not argue that he is an individual whose privacy had been violated when Chavez accused him as behind the scam, which allegedly involved the diversion of public funds into the campaign kitty of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the 2004 presidential elections. Personalities and their affairs had already become public and could no longer be regarded as their own private business, and that the press had a privilege, under the Constitution, to inform the public about those who have become legitimate matters of public interest, the court added. "Well-settled is the rule that public figures have, to some extent at least, lost his right of privacy because... (he) had sought publicity and consented to it and so could not complain when they received it," Daguna said. The Manila court further ruled that the statements attributed to Chavez were privileged communications, made out of a moral, legal and social duty to uphold the law. The court further pointed out that the complainant failed to implead the writers and editor of newspapers who printed his allegedly libelous statements. "Obviously, a person who is not the author of an alleged libelous article, or who has absolutely no participation in the publication of the said article, cannot be indicted for the crime of libel," the court said. In the news reports, Chavez identified the "runners" of former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc-Joc" Bolante who acted as the "bagman" of Mr Arroyo in the disbursement of P728 million in agricultural funds that reportedly bankrolled the President and her allies' campaign. Chavez was quoted as saying that he is "giving them (Mr Arroyo) 24 hours to cooperate, lest I include them in the plunder charge, which is non-bailable." Assuming that the accused did utter the statements attributed to him, there is still no probable cause to hold him for libel because the essential elements of the said crime are lacking, the court said. - GMANews.TV