Palace denies hand in conviction of newspaper publisher

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang on Thursday denied having a hand in the conviction of The Daily Tribune publisher Ninez Cacho-Olivares, who was sentenced by a local court up to two years imprisonment for the charge of libel. "That's all speculations...the fate of anybody who has a case rests on the judge," said Anthony Golez, deputy presidential spokesperson when asked if Malacañang had anything to do with the decision rendered by Makati regional trial court Judge Winlove Dumayas. "I think they (respondents) were given sufficient time to argue their case," Golez told reporters in Filipino. The Daily Tribune is critical of the Arroyo administration. Cacho-Olivares also serves as the paper's editor-in-chief. Earlier on Thursday, Judge Dumayas sentenced Cacho-Olivares to six months to two years in prison in connection with the libel case filed by the Carpio, Villaraza and Cruz (now Villaraza, Cruz, Marcelo and Angcangco) law firm. Aside from the prison term, Cacho-Olivares was also ordered to pay P5 million for damages and P33,732 for civil damages to the law firm. The lawsuit stemmed from an article written by Olivares in 2003 alleging that then Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo chose people supposedly "connected" to the law firm to handle a complaint by its client Asia’s Emerging Dragons Corp. (AEDC) against the winning bidder in the build-operate contract for the NAIA Terminal III and former secretaries of the Department of Transportation and Communications. Interviewed over radio dzBB, Cacho-Olivares said she knew the conviction was forthcoming. "Expected ko na maco-convict ako pero bakit meron pang civil aspect pa at P33,000 na bayaran pa sa Villaraza (I expected that the court will hand a guilty verdict and convict me but I am puzzled why there was a civil aspect on the case and I have to pay P33,000 to Villaraza)," Cacho-Olivares said. She added: "But I expected an impartial judgment. I expected fairness. But that is the way life is in this country... Alam mo naman dito (In this country)... I'm not the favorite of, I'm not exactly the love of Mrs (Gloria Macapagal) Arroyo," she added. Cacho-Olivares said she would appeal the decision. The case was one of the 48 libel charges filed by "The Firm" against The Daily Tribune. The other cases are being heard before different Makati courts. "The Firm" was a label given to the law office because most of its members used to be the President’s and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo’s counsel. However, there was a falling out between the two parties a couple of years ago. - GMANews.TV