VP Binay wins libel case vs. ex-Makati vice mayor

A Makati court has found a former Makati vice mayor guilty of libel for his statement against former Makati mayor and now Vice President Jejomar Binay.

In a June 30 decision, Judge Selma Palacio Alaras of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 62 ordered Roberto Brillante to pay a fine of P6,000 as well as P500,000 in moral damages to Binay.

Quoting Alaras' 13-page decision, a new release from the city government of Makati said Brillante “willfully, unlawfully and feloniously” disseminated a defamatory statement that caused “dishonor, discredit and public contempt” to Binay.

Binay filed the libel case in 2006 when he was still Makati mayor after Brillante claimed in a press statement that he — Binay — bribed three Sandiganbayan justices to win a graft case filed by Brillante against Binay's wife, Elenita, and nine others.

Brillante, citing unnamed sources, had said in a radio program and a press conference that "lobby money" resulted in the dismissal of the case.

In his testimony, Binay said Brillante's statement "was calculated to disseminate malicious imputations" and "clearly brought damage" to his name, reputation, integrity and honor as a public servant.  

Brillante, on the other hand, told the court his statement was done in “good faith” but the court said he failed to act in “good faith” when he neglected to “substantiate or even attempt to verify his story before publication,” and his information were “mere gossips peddled by unnamed sources.”

It further said that Brillante showed malice—a critical element in libel cases—when he “made such remarks with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard as to the truth or falsity thereof.”

“Accused’s failure to verify the truth of the information from Mayor Binay himself is in itself an evidence of his lack of bona fide efforts to verify the accuracy of his information," the decision said.  —KBK, GMA News