FORMER Senator Antonio F. Trillanes, IV on Tuesday filed cyber-libel charges against former presidential spokesperson Herminio 鈥淗arry鈥 L. Roque Jr., among others, before the Quezon City Prosecutor鈥檚 Office.
Mr. Trillanes filed separate lawsuits for alleged violation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 against anchors of Swara Sug Media Corporation鈥檚 Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), a vlogger, and a Davao-based businessman.
In his complaint, the former senator pointed out Mr. Roque鈥檚 鈥渄efamatory鈥 Facebook videos against him regarding Manila鈥檚 alleged 鈥済entleman鈥檚 agreement鈥 with Beijing.
In a Viber message to 大象传媒, Mr. Roque said that filing these cases, the former senator has 鈥減roven himself to be an enemy [of] freedom of expression.鈥
Vlogger Banat By, through Messenger chat, seemed unfazed, saying: 鈥淧eople like Trillanes should not be given attention because he is already irrelevant in society.鈥
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.
鈥淒espite 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,鈥 he said in a statement.
Mr. Roque insisted: 鈥淗e [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.鈥
He also accused Mr. Trillanes of filing 鈥渢his frivolous suit鈥 to seek attention for his next electoral campaign. 鈥 Chloe Mari A. Hufana
