OSMEÑA
CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña filed his opposition to broadcast journalist Bobby Nalzaro’s motion to withdraw the libel case he filed against him.
Nalzaro filed a manifestation to Regional Trial Court Judge Gilbert Moises to consider the resolution issued by the Department of Justice which dismissed the libel case filed by the mayor against him.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II earlier granted his petition for review and reversed the prosecutor’s resolution that indicted him of libel.
In his resolution, Aguirre said Nalzaro has “basis in his subject commentary” and that there could be “no actual malice on his part” to publish it.
Aguirre ordered Prosecutor Jesus Rodrigo Taga-an to withdraw the libel suit filed against Nalzaro, saying there’s no sufficient basis to indict the broadcast journalist.
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 lodged administrative complaints against Cuevas at the Department of Finance over her 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).
In opposing the motion, Osmeña said the court “is not bound to follow the resolutions of the Department of Justice as they are exercising different jurisdictions.”
“It should be noted that the court has sole authority and discretion as to the status of the case,” Osmeña’s motion read.