Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 10) — The Supreme Court has junked a civil libel case filed by former senator Juan Ponce Enrile against the Philippine Daily Inquirer, one of its reporters and three of its editors for a 2001 story which supposedly alleged that Enrile was a “Marcos crony” who benefited from the coco levy funds.
In a decision dated July 14, 2021 but released to the public on Thursday, the Supreme Court said the article entitled “PCGG: No to coconut levy agreement” was not libelous, arguing that “malice is not present in the publishing of the subject article.”
On Dec. 4, 2001, Donna Cueto co-wrote the story which cited a statement from the Philippine Commission on Good Government (PCGG) that opposed the coco levy agreement because it would allegedly allow “Marcos cronies” such as Enrile to keep their “plundered loot.”
The quote was attributed to then PCGG chairwoman Haydee Yorac though Cueto said she got the statement from Commissioner Ruben Carranza. Yorac later denied that the statement was hers nor was it an official PCGG release.
The SC said Cueto’s article should be looked at in its entirety.
“A closer look at the article involved in this case reveals that it was not Cueto, the author of the article, who was asserting that Enrile was a ‘plunderer” or a ‘Marcos crony,’” the SC ruling stated. “In both of the paragraphs complained of, the author was merely repeating a supposed statement from PCGG Chairperson Yorac.”
Though Yorac did deny that the statement came from her, it does not make the defamatory accusations as immediately coming from the Inquirer, the Court maintained.
“To reiterate, the fact that Inquirer failed to verify if the statements were indeed made by Yorac did not make the imputations in the article as its own,” the ruling said.
The SC’s decision reversed and set aside a previous ruling by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Makati City and the Court of Appeals (CA), in 2013 and 2016, respectively, which both ruled in favor of Enrile and compelled Cueto as well as editors Artemio T. Engracia, Jr., Abelardo S. Ulanday and the late former editor-in-chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc to pay millions in damages.
While the Court disagreed with the RTC and CA’s decisions, it added a reminder to the media to adhere to the “ethical standards demanded by their profession.”
