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What a blast from the past. Some of the people involved don’t even belong to the same network anymore.
“The filing of libel charges against ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. stemming from its accusation that rival television station GMA Network stole its video footage recording the arrival of former Iraq hostage Angelo de la Cruz in 2004 may now proceed after the Court of Appeals (CA) dismissed the network’s petition seeking a reversal of its June 2014 order in favor of GMA,” reports Brian Maglungsod on InterAksyon.com.
In a two-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Eduardo Peralta and concurred in by Associate Justices Stephen Cruz and Magdangal de Leon, it was stated: “When the Court calibrated the current papers from the parties, we can hardly ignore that the arguments put forward by petitioners on their motion for reconsideration were a virtual echo of the discourse on the petition for certiorari.”
Now, what does that mean?
It means the court affirmed its earlier order upholding the resolution issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) finding probable cause to file libel charges against ABS-CBN chairman Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III, ABS-CBN senior vice-president Jose Ramon Olives, vice-president for news operations Jake Maderazo, former ABS-CBN vice-president for news operations Luisita “Luchi” Cruz-Valdes, assistant vice president for news operations Jose “Jing” Magsaysay Jr., news operations director Alfonso “Pal” Marquez, supervising producer Maria Progena Estonilo Reyes, reporter and anchor Lynda Jumilla, executive producer of the now defunct program Insider Lilibeth Frondoso, executive producer of Magandang Umaga Bayan Annie Eugenio, executive producer of News Patrol Dondi Garcia, Luis Alejandro, and former ABS-CBN news anchor Erwin Tulfo.
The report recalled that “the case started when ABS-CBN accused GMA Network of stealing its video footage of De la Cruz’ arrival from Iraq on July 2004.”
However, GMA Network said the disputed footage didn’t come from ABS-CBN but rather from news agency Reuters, with which the network had a video subscription contract.
