PLLO exec Paras files libel complaint vs Quezon lawmaker over privilege speech

Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) Undersecretary Jacinto Paras on Wednesday sued Quezon Representative Angelina Tan for libel for accusing him of spreading corruption allegations against the lawmaker and her husband.

Filed before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, the complaint seeks P6 million in damages from Tan over her privilege speech on February 8 during which she linked some “malicious” online posts to Paras.

In particular, the lawmaker slammed a TikTok video claiming that she and her husband, Department of Public Works and Highways regional director Ronnel Tan, are “corrupt officials” amid allegations of graft in the fund releases by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to a medical facility allegedly owned by the couple.

Tan attributed the video to the website www.sovereignph.com which is under Sovereign News Publishing owned by Paras, citing a report by the National Bureau of Investigation and records of the Department of Trade and Industry. She said the video has since been removed from the popular social media application.

Paras denied posting any TikTok video as he accused Tan of making false allegations.

“The speech of respondent Tan accusing me of false claims is highly libelous as it portrayed me as a dishonest and lying government official to the prejudice and damage of my good reputation as a high performing and highly competent official of the government,” the complaint read.

The PLLO official also criticized Tan for discussing in her speech allegations that he stole the cellphone of a former lawmaker.

Paras said Tan cannot use parliamentary immunity as defense because her speech “did not involve any issue or subject matter involved in legislation or in pursuit of legislative work.”

“Her speech was purely personal and political in nature as it pertains to her political reputation and image as a politician and her quest to protect her reputation because of her ambition to run for governor of Quezon province,” the complaint stated.

Sought for comment, Tan said: “My lawyers will just attend to his complaint.”

A former Negros Oriental congressman, Paras is the PLLO undersecretary assigned at the House of Representatives.—with Anna Felicia Bajo/AOL, GMA News