UST law dean files P120-M libel suits against Lorna Kapunan

University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Civil Law dean Nilo Divina has slapped two separate libel complaints against lawyer Lorna Kapunan over her accusations in connection with the disbarment complaint against him and the hazing death of Horacio Castillo III.

Divina asked for damages totaling P120 million or P60 million each in the complaints filed before the Manila and Quezon City prosecutors' offices last Friday.

In the first complaint filed with the Manila Prosecutor's Office, the law dean and and his firm, DivinaLaw, accused Kapunan and Patricia Bautista of maligning his reputation when they publicized the filing of disbarment raps with the Supreme Court on September 25 over allegations he paid commissions to Bautista's estranged husband, Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista.

"[R]espondents’ conduct under the circumstances clearly shows that their acts of brandishing the disbarment complaint before media personnel and making public statements imputing illegality against the complainants were in furtherance of their demolition job against complainants," the complaint stated.

"Respondents’ statements were part of her (and her cohorts’) grand plan to publicly malign the complainants and ruin the goodwill and reputation they have scrupulously built over the years."

Kapunan and Patricia Bautista also allegedly disregarded the confidential nature of disbarment proceedings when "they summoned and narrated to the media the defamatory allegations" in the complaint seeking to strip their licenses as lawyers and dissolve the law firm.    

Divina said Kapunan and Patricia Bautista committed online libel under the Cybercrime Prevention Act (Republic Act 10175) because their media interviews were published on the internet.

"With the posting of the interview in these platforms, the negative impact on complainants’ respective reputations increased exponentially. The online posts in particular could be shared or re-posted and appeared in the news feeds of all those following these online platforms," the complaint stated.

In the second complaint filed with the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office, Divina slammed Kapunan for insinuating that he had involvement in the death of Castillo from hazing rites of Aegis Juris fraternity on September 17.

Kapunan allegedly wanted to "publicly convey" that he committed a violation of the Anti-Hazing Law and/or of Presidential Decree 1829 supposedly by directly recruiting Castillo and giving assurance to his parents that there would be no physical harm involved in his initiation, by coddling fraternity members who participated in the hazing rites, and having actual knowledge of the initiation rites.

"Such baseless allegations cast doubt on my reputation and tend to dishonour and discredit me and put me in a very bad light. The statements further imply dishonesty and lack of virtue on my part because my assertion that I had no knowledge whatsoever about the recruitment of Atio or the hazing was being projected as a lie," the complaint read.

Kapunan shrugged off both complaints.

"Truth is a defense in a libel case and the truth is on our side," she said in a text message.

Divina said the two complaints are just the first of "many" they will file for each accusation Kapunan will make.

"For every single defamatory statement she makes, we will be filing complaints. We will bury her with an avalanche of cases. The more she fabricates, the deeper the grave she is digging for herself," he said in a statement.

He said whatever amount he will recover from the libel suits will be donated to the promotion and education of anti-hazing and to further all efforts to eradicate hazing in the country. —ALG/RSJ, GMA News