Person accused of uploading 'VIP' traffic video denies perjury allegation

The individual accused of uploading the viral video in which policemen were seen blocking a portion of Commonwealth Avenue to allow a "VIP" to pass through on Tuesday submitted a rejoinder to his counter-affidavit with the Quezon City Prosecutors' Office.

In his rejoinder, teacher Janus Munar insisted that it was the police and not him who lied about the incident and should be held liable for perjury.

Munar submitted the rejoinder in response to the allegation of Executive Master Sergeant Verdo Pantollano that he, Munar, is guilty of committing perjury on top of other violations for uploading the video.

Munar noted that Pantollano, in his counter-affidavit, stated that he did not know the identity of the individual who took the video when he filed the complaint, and that he only knew Munar after seeing his name and face on Facebook.

"Following Sergeant Pantollano's twisted logic, if I am culpable for lying, he is even more culpable since the lie originated with him. Sergeant Pantollano submitted to this [Prosecutor’s Office] clear copies of photographs showing my face (annexes "D" and "E", Complaint-Affidavit).' This shows that he already knew what I looked like when he filed his complaint-affidavit," Munar said in his rejoinder.

"If I was truly the originator of the video, why did he not identify me by my name as the originator in his complaint-affidavit? Why did he describe the originator in that complaint-affidavit as an 'unidentified person'? Why is he suddenly changing his story now by accusing me of committing perjury when I said in my counter-affidavit that I did not 'originate' or record the video and merely uploaded or shared it," Munar added.

Human rights lawyer and Munar's counsel Chel Diokno said the police should not weaponize the law against anybody, noting that his client was merely exercising his right to free expression.

"Dinagdagan pa nila [iyong nauna nilang reklamo]. Kinakawawa nila talaga si Janus. May nabanggit pa sila na Janus committed perjury pero sa aming pag-aaral, wala naman talaga. Puro katotohanan lamang ang sinabi niya roon sa kanyang counter-affidavit," Diokno told reporters after filing Munar's rejoinder.

Lawyer Rodrigo Moreno, counsel for Pantollano, maintained that it was Munar who was lying.

"Kung ayaw niya makasuhan (if he doesn't want to face charges), he should not have attributed false statements to my client. That is called accountability," Moreno said Tuesday. —KBK, GMA Integrated News