Woman sued for libel for posting insult in FB

Another woman in Cebu City is in trouble for posting insults against a woman in her Facebook account a year ago.

Libel charges were filed against Anne Grace Lacaron Nagy before the Regional Trial Court in Cebu City. Bail was recommended at P6,000.

Assistant City Prosecutor Ricky Jones Macabaya said he gave her the chance to refute the allegations but she did not file a counter-affidavit.

The prosecutor said all the elements of the crime of libel were presen : the words were defamatory and made in public against a specific individual.

He said the statements posted in Nagy’s Facebook account depicted the complainant, a resident of Camputhaw, Cebu City, as a scammer and “caused dishonor, discredit, or contempt to the complainant.”

“Malice is presumed to be present for every defamatory imputation,” the prosecutor said.

The complaint was filed by a woman who said Nagy was the daughter of her “rival” for her German lover.

On May 3, 2013, Nagy allegedly posted in her FB wall the complainant’s pictures with the caption: “No need for insults, your face says it all. Meet the poser and original scammer.”

The image was tagged to 21 Facebook friends of Nagy. The complainant said she felt bad and was embarrassed by the posts.

“My friends who viewed the post called me and inquired if I knew about such post. They can do nothing but feel pity for me,” she said.

Under the Revised Penal Code, libel is defined as “a public and malicious imputation of a crime, or a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstance tending to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.”

Last week, another woman in Cebu City was charged in court for libel for posting rumors on Facebook of an alleged murder plot which she blamed on her brother’s girlfriend.

Bail was also set at P6,000 for her temporary liberty. The woman was given the opportunity to refute the allegations but never filed a counter-affidavit. The complaint was filed by a 57-year-old woman against her live-in partner’s two sisters.