FORMER Senator Antonio F. Trillanes, IV on Tuesday filed cyber-libel charges against former presidential spokesperson Herminio “Harry” L. Roque Jr., among others, before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.
Mr. Trillanes filed separate lawsuits for alleged violation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 against anchors of Swara Sug Media Corporation’s Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), a vlogger, and a Davao-based businessman.
In his complaint, the former senator pointed out Mr. Roque’s “defamatory” Facebook videos against him regarding Manila’s alleged “gentleman’s agreement” with Beijing.
In a Viber message to BusinessWorld, Mr. Roque said that filing these cases, the former senator has “proven himself to be an enemy [of] freedom of expression.”
Vlogger Banat By, through Messenger chat, seemed unfazed, saying: “People like Trillanes should not be given attention because he is already irrelevant in society.”
Mr. Trillanes said he will also file complaints before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against several social media users spreading disinformation and libelous statements about him.
“Despite my repeated explanations on what transpired during my backchannel talks, including official statements from incumbent government officials during Senate hearings conducted that we did not lose Scarborough, these pro-Duterte personalities continue to harp on this fake news to deflect blame from the Duterte administration,” he said in a statement.
Mr. Roque insisted: “He [Trillanes] has never made public what in fact he negotiated with China. This is a fact. Then-Senate President [Juan Ponce] Enrile threatened to expose his deeds. The latter desisted because of national security concerns.”
He also accused Mr. Trillanes of filing “this frivolous suit” to seek attention for his next electoral campaign. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana
