DOJ indicts Lorna Kapunan for slander over remarks vs. UST law dean Divina

Prosecutors from the Department of Justice (DOJ) have indicted lawyer Lorna Kapunan for two counts of slander in connection with statements she made against University of Santos Tomas (UST) Faculty of Civil Law Dean and Divina Law managing partner Nilo Divina in 2017.

While it dismissed Divina's libel complaints, the panel of prosecutors found probable cause to charge Kapunan with slander over her remarks in two television interviews regarding the fatal hazing of UST law student Horacio Castillo III in September 2017 and a case involving former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista.

In one of the resolutions, both dated March 4, the prosecutors found Kapunan, in an interview aired on ANC on Oct. 27, 2017, insinuated Divina committed crimes by saying he recruited Castillo into the Aegis Juris Fraternity and coddled the fraternity members who allegedly hazed the 22-year-old.

"It would appear that respondent imputed the commission or violation of the Anti-Hazing Law (R.A. No. 8049) against the complainant by being the recruiter of Horacio Castillo and assuring the latter that there would be no physical activity or hazing," the resolution stated.

"The respondent also insinuated that complainant was obstructing the apprehension and prosecution of criminal offenders when he allegedly coddled the members of the Aegis Juris Fraternity who participated during the hazing rites of Horacio Castillo when they went to the Dean's house," it added.

In the other complaint, Divina accused Kapunan of discussing the disbarment case that Patricia Paz Cruz-Bautista, the former Comelec chair's estranged wife, against him and 20 other lawyers from his law firm in an interview on ANC on Sept. 26, 2017. 

"Based on her interview, respondent Atty. Lorna P. Kapunan imputed that complainant Atty. Nilo T. Divina and his law office made humongous payments to then Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista to sway him to act in their supposed client's favour," the other resolution stated.

"The statements made by Atty. Lorna P. Kapunan during said interview were imputations of a crime which were made orally, publicly and maliciously and were all directed to the complainants," it added.

The prosecutors said Divina's libel complaints have no legal basis for lacking the element of publication; they said it was "clear" that it was ABS-CBN News Online, not Kapunan herself, that "caused the publication" of the alleged defamatory remarks on Facebook and YouTube.

On the other hand, "publication in oral defamation is the communication of the defamatory matter/remark to some third person or persons," they said, pursuing the slander charge.

The crime of slander is defined in Article 358 of the Revised Penal Code. Grave oral defamation is punishable by a prison term of up to two years and four months for each count.

The complaint involving Bautista was resolved by Senior Assistant State Prosecutors Rassendel Rex Gingoyon and Olivia Laroza-Torrevillas and Associate City Prosecutor Laurence Joel Taliping. The same panel, except Laroza-Torrevillas, who inhibited, resolved the one involving Castillo.

Both resolutions were approved by Acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon.

Sought for comment, Kapunan said she has filed a petition for review at the DOJ on the slander case. She said that Castillo's mother, Carminia, will vouch for the truth of the alleged slanderous statements. Carminia has been asked for comment. — BM, GMA News