Supreme Court upholds dismissal of Enrile libel suit vs columnist

The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the dismissal of former senator Juan Ponce Enrile's P31-million libel case against newspaper columnist Yolanda Villanueva-Ong.

The SC's First Division denied Enrile's petition challenging a Court of Appeals (CA) decision which affirmed a trial court's dismissal of the libel suit. In a Feb. 19 resolution, the SC said Enrile failed to show the CA erred in its ruling.

The case stemmed from Ong's article entitled "Like father, like son?" published in the Philippine Star on Oct. 16, 2012.

Enrile alleged that the article characterized him as a "liar, fraud, and manipulator" and accused him of trying to "revise history" to support the candidacy of his son, then-Cagayan Representative Juan “Jack” Ponce Enrile, Jr., in the 2013 senatorial elections.

Jack Enrile lost.

The former senator also alleged that Ong's objective was to "discredit" his integrity and "degrade" his accomplishments as an elected official.

The Regional Trial Court of Pasay City, where Enrile filed the civil case, dismissed the suit in 2016, saying Enrile failed to establish his claim against the newspaper columnist. Enrile appealed, but the CA said it found "no compelling reason" to disturb the trial court's ruling.

The former senator then brought his case to the SC, which rejected his petition for his "failure... to sufficiently show that the Court of Appeals committed any reversible error in the challenged decision and resolution as to warrant the exercise of this Court's discretionary appellate jurisdiction."

Human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, Ong's lawyer, said he hopes the media would be encouraged by the SC's decision.

"This is some much-needed good news for Philippine journalists," he said in a statement.

"I hope this sends a clear message to our journalists: don't be afraid to cover matters that are of public concern involving public figures," he said.

In 2018, the SC allowed Ong to pursue her P88-million counterclaim against Enrile in connection with the libel suit.

The columnist also sought P1 million in attorney's fees, reportedly arguing that the former senator's suit was meant to "intimidate and silence" her and other journalists and "to place a chilling effect" on their ability to write about Enrile's public conduct on matters of public concern.

Diokno chairs the Free Legal Assistance Group, which represents Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos, Jr. in a cyber libel case. A trial court convicted the two in June and sentenced them to up to six years in prison.

They have asked the judge to reconsider the decision.—AOL, GMA News