Court cases don’t die in the Philippines.
“The libel case against several ABS-CBN past and present news personalities and executives in connection with the 2004 video footage of kidnapped Filipino overseas worker Angelo Dela Cruz will proceed, as the Court of Appeals (CA) junked their plea to have the trial stopped,” reports ABS-CBNnews.com.
The report noted: “The case stemmed from on-camera remarks made by ABS-CBN news program anchors [Erwin] Tulfo and [Lynda] Jumilla about GMA-7’s alleged use of ABS-CBN’s live video footage of Dela Cruz’s homecoming, beamed to Reuters Television Service with whom ABS-CBN had an existing agreement.”
Since it’s much too complicated for us to explain, we’re quoting the report verbatim as it gives the details about what happened 10 years ago:
“The live ABS-CBN footage had a ‘No Access Philippines’ restriction, according to ABS-CBN, which barred Reuters subscribers/clients in the Philippines from airing the video.
ABS-CBN claimed GMA-7, in its news bulletin, Flash Report, aired the subject footage.”
Here’s what happened after that:
—The libel case against the ABS-CBN news personalities and executives was filed on July 27, 2004 with the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.
—The complaint was junked on Dec. 3 of the same year. GMA-7 filed a petition for review which was denied on Sept. 15, 2005.
—However, the same was reversed by the DOJ in a ruling dated June 29, 2010 on the motion for reconsideration of GMA-7. The DOJ, under Sec. Leila De Lima, sustained this ruling
Among the respondents named in the case are Erwin Tulfo, Lilibeth Frondoso, Lynda Jumilla, Maria Progena Reyes, Anna Eugenio, Fernando Garcia, Eugenio Lopez III, Luis Alejandro, Jose Ramon Olives, Jesus Maderazo, Luisita Cruz-Valdes, Jose Magsaysay, Jr., and Alfonso Marquez.
As you can see, some of the personalities named have already moved on to other networks.
Photo by Hollyckunho from Wikipedia Commons
