Darryl Yap's lawyer says director sent Vic Sotto copy of film's script ahead of teaser's release

Atty. Raymond Fortun, director Darryl Yap's legal counsel, said his client sent Vic Sotto a copy of his film's script ahead of the teaser's release.

In the teaser for "The Rapists of Pepsi Paloma," Sotto was mentioned and accused of rape.

According to Emil Sumangil's report on "24 Oras" on Friday, Fortun said that Yap sent the script to Sotto so he can give comments about it.

"The purpose was really for them to give comments dun sa script, so wala naman po. Ilang beses po na nag-follow-up si Direk Darryl na tungkol dun until finally na shoot na lahat ng mga scenes, so hindi na namin kasalanan 'yun," he said.

Sotto filed 19 counts of cyberlibel against Yap on Thursday following the release of the film's teaser. In an interview, the actor and host said that no one from the movie production consulted him.

According to the "24 Oras" report, Fortun also said that they will answer on Wednesday the Muntinlupa court's directive to submit a verified return on the writ for the petition for writ of habeas data that Sotto filed against Yap. He added they will uphold Yap's right to freedom of artistic expression.

In the petition that Sotto filed on Monday, he asked the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 205 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 legal counsel, Atty. Enrique Dela Cruz, said on Thursday that although the court has not yet granted Sotto's petition, it temporarily issued a writ of habeas data.

Earlier on Friday, Yap's camp said that the Muntinlupa court has yet to issue an order directing them to take down the teaser and other material for the film.

Dela Cruz, however, has stood by his remarks that Yap must take down his content and stop posting and sharing these.

"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.)

The court set the summary hearing for the petition on January 15.

— CDC, GMA Integrated News