Darryl Yap’s camp says court did not issue stop order on Pepsi Paloma teaser, film

The camp of director Darryl Yap on Friday said the Muntinlupa court has yet to issue an order directing them to take down the teaser and other materials for his film, “The Rapists of Pepsi Paloma.”

“Writ was issued, no stop order,” Atty. Raymond Fortun, Yap’s legal counsel, said in a message to GMA News Online.

Fortun said the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 205 only directed Yap to submit a verified return on the writ within five days from its receipt.

Upon becoming Yap's legal counsel, Fortun also asked for a gag order to be issued by the court that will prevent Sotto and his camp "from disclosing the contents of the verified return to the public and enjoining them to dutifully keep in strict confidence the proceedings and matters learned before this Honorable Court." 

This came after actor and host Vic Sotto filed a petition for writ of habeas data against Yap on Monday, after he was mentioned in the teaser of the film. 

Sotto asked the Muntinlupa court to compel Yap to take down and remove all promotional materials, teaser video, and other content relative to the film. He also asked the court to prohibit Yap from further disseminating any materials relative to the film on all platforms.

Sotto’s lawyer, Atty. Enrique Dela Cruz, on Thursday said that though the petition is not yet granted, the Muntinlupa court temporarily issued a writ of habeas data.

He affirmed this means Yap is directed to take down his content.

“Ibig sabihin ay tigilan muna natin ang pag po-post, pag she-share ng mga bagay na ito hanggang sa ito ay mapag usapan,” Dela Cruz had said.

(This means that we need to stop posting and sharing things until these are tackled.) 

When sought for comment on Friday, Dela Cruz stood by his remarks.

“Ibig sabihin ay kinatigan ng korte na tama ang porma at sustansya ng petition. Kaya inatasan si Mr. Yap na kailangan nya na magpaliwanag at kung ano ginawa nya sa nasabing mga post after nya ma receive ang writ,” Dela Cruz said.

(This means that the Court found that petition to be sufficient and correct. That’s why Mr. Yap needs to explain what he did to his posts after receiving the writ.)

Meanwhile, the court set the summary hearing for the petition on January 15.

Sotto also filed 19 counts of cyberlibel against Yap.

— LA, GMA Integrated News