DOJ orders filing of libel charges vs ABS-CBN head, execs, talents

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has ordered the City Prosecutor of Quezon City to file libel charges against ABS-CBN chairman and CEO Eugenio Lopez III, as well as several executives and talents of ABS-CBN, for accusing GMA Network of “stealing” and airing a video footage in 2004.

 

The video involved ABS-CBN’s live feed newscast of the July 2004 return of Angelo dela Cruz, who had been held captive by Iraqis. But GMA Network’s footage was actually supplied by the Reuters Television Service (Reuters), with which GMA had and still has a video subscription contract.

 

Also implicated in the crime of libel are ABS-CBN executives and talents, namely, Erwin Tulfo, Beth Frondoso, Lynda Jumilla, Ma. Progena Estonilo Reyes, Annie Eugenio, Dondi Garcia, Eugenio Lopez III, Luis Alejandro, Jose Ramon Olives, Jesus Maderazo, Luisita Cruz-Valdez, Jose Magsaysay, Jr., and Alfonso Marquez. In a statement sent to GMA News Online, ABS-CBN Corporate Communications said: "We disagree with the ruling and we shall appeal it to the Court of Appeals."

 

In a four-page resolution promulgated on last Dec. 14, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said GMA Network had proved that all the elements of libel, namely, defamatory imputation, malice, publication, and identifiability of the person defamed were present in the utterances and statements made in the ABS-CBN news reports about GMA’s use of Dela Cruz’s arrival footage.

 

“The malicious imputation was evident from the use of the words ‘magnanakaw ng aming eksklusibong kuha,’ ‘pamimirata ng footage,’ ‘pagnanakaw ay isang malaking krimen,’ and ‘pagnanakaw ng video’ uttered by [ABS-CBN respondents],” De Lima said.

 

Court of Appeals: GMA Network did not infringe copyrights

 

On March 3, 2011, the Court of Appeals Fourth Division issued a resolution saying it found “no compelling justification or valid reason to modify, alter, much less, reverse” its Nov. 9, 2010 ruling that said GMA did not commit copyright infringement in the airing of the homecoming video of Angelo dela Cruz, an overseas worker kidnapped in Iraq. 

Associate Justice Josefina Guevara-Salonga penned the resolution, with the concurrence of Associate Justices Mariflor Punzalan-Castillo and Franchito Diamante.

 

The appellate court also said GMA “cannot be held legally liable for copyright infringement.”

 

“While private respondent [ABS-CBN] has a copyright of its news coverage, it is however an admitted fact that petitioner [GMA] had only aired a five-second footage of the disputed live video feed that it had received from Reuters and CNN as a subscriber," said the CA.

 

“As such, it had no notice of the right of ownership of private respondent [ABS-CBN] over the same. Without notice of ‘No Access Philippines' restriction of the live video feed, petitioner [GMA] cannot be faulted for airing a live video feed from Reuters and CNN," it added.

 

It was for these reasons, the CA held, that GMA was exculpated from any criminal liability under the Intellectual Property Code.

 

It then said that ABS-CBN’s “instant motion is hereby denied."

 

The CA’s recent ruling can be deemed final and executory because second motions for reconsideration are prohibited pleadings. Section 5, Rule 37 of the Rules of Court provides that: “No party shall be allowed a second motion for reconsideration of a judgment or final order." — Earl Rosero/MRT/RSJ, GMA News