Justice Secretary: Junk libel case vs. Nalzaro
BOBBY NALZARO
THE libel case filed by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña against tri-media personality Pablito “Bobby” Nalzaro has hit a snag.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II ordered Prosecutor Jesus Rodrigo Taga-an to withdraw the libel suit filed against Nalzaro before the Regional Trial Court in Cebu City, saying there’s no sufficient basis to indict the broadcast journalist.
“It appears that the respondent (Nalzaro) has no intention at all to directly injure the complainant’s (Osmeña) character or reputation in his article,” he said in a resolution dated Sept. 2, 2016.
Aguirre also reversed and set aside Taga-an’s earlier finding against Nalzaro whom he said delivered a factual commentary and had no intent to discredit Osmeña.
Nalzaro, in a statement, was happy over the outcome of the libel case filed against him by Osmeña.
“Of course, I’m happy with this favorable ruling of the Justice secretary in our petition for review especially that this ruling was handed over to us during the celebration of the Cebu Press Freedom Week,” he said in a text message to CDN.
“But even before this ruling, I firmly believed that my article was not libelous. Sometimes, libel is used by some people, especially politicians, to harass journalists. And I view the complainant’s move as purely harassment. But the truth always prevails,” he added.
The case is pending before Judge Gilbert Moises of the Regional Tiral Court Branch 18.
Sought for comment, Osmeña’s lawyer Kirk Bryan Repollo said Nalzaro couldn’t completely heave a sigh of relief yet. “The case hasn’t been dismissed.
An Information (case) was filed in court, so it’s already at the disposal of the Regional Trial Court. A prosecutor couldn’t just dismiss the case,”
he said in a text message to CDN.
“Anyway, we can still file a motion for reconsideration (before Justice Secretary Aguirre),” he added.
Repollo, however, refused to comment further, saying they have yet to receive a copy of Aguirre’s ruling.
In 2014, Osmeña filed a libel case against Nalzaro for allegedly accusing him of “fabricating some charges” against former Cebu City Treasurer Diwa Cuevas in an attempt to sabotage the administration of then Cebu City mayor Michael Rama.
Osmeña had lodged administrative complaints against Cuevas before the Department of Finance over alleged lapses in handling Cebu City’s financial transactions based on findings of the 2012 and 2013 audit reports of the Commission on Audit (COA).
Aguirre said the COA reports, however, did not directly impute any wrongdoing on the part of Cuevas.
“Thus, the respondent (Nalzaro) has basis in his commentary of saying that some of the charges against the said treasurer were fabricated,” he said.
The Justice secretary cited a Supreme Court ruling that says “…if the statements made against the public figure are essentially true, then no conviction for libel can be had.”
To fully appreciate whether or not the defamatory portion of the article was made with malice, Aguirre said Nalzaro’s write-up should be taken in its entirety.
Although a portion of the article talked about Osmeña, Aguirre said Nalzaro’s column that was published in Sun.Star Cebu on Oct. 25, 2014 was directed to then Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes.
“The title of the article “Jonas offensive against Cebu City” would even suggest that the commentary was directed towards the said mayor (Cortes),” Aguirre said.
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