Philippines : Davao court junks libel cases against two unionists
The subject placard was used during an FFW picket on Aug. 18, 2011 and tagged a former Holy Cross Printing Press Employees Union-FFW president, one Casiano Torrefiel, Jr., as an executioner in the vernacular. The protest was shown in a video by a network giant. But Davao RTC Acting Presiding Judge Emmanuel C. Carpio found based on testimonies of witnesses that both Mses. Nono and Jumamil did not plan for the writing of the defamatory words.
Mr. Carpio ruled as inconsequential the act of holding the placard, as the words that discredited or caused contempt against Mr. Torrefiel would have still been on display without the two unionists in the demonstration. “When moral certainty as to culpability hangs in the balance, acquittal on reasonable doubt inevitably becomes a matter of right. The Court is simply unprepared to put both accused behind bars when footprints of doubt as to their guilt hugely abound,” the decision read. “It is a decision that protects lowly workers in the exercise of their freedom of expression and the constitutional right to peaceful concerted activities, including the right to strike in accordance with the law,” said the FFW in reaction to the favourable ruling. -- Buena Rilyne C. Bernal