MANILA — The Consul General of the Philippines in Milan on Monday filed cyber libel complaints against newspaper Daily Tribune over a series of stories accusing the diplomat of "coddling" an embattled consultancy firm in the Italian city.

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Consul General Elmer Cato filed before the Angeles City prosecutor's office 17 counts of cyber libel against the Daily Tribune — particularly against Willie Fernandez, president of Concept and Information Group Inc. — its editors and reporters, and several others.

The P10-million defamation suit stemmed from a series of news reports and commentary published in both print and online editions of the Tribune and its sister publication Dyaryo Tirada.

The reports allegedly accused Cato of dereliction of duty and corruption for supposedly sitting on the complaints of Filipinos defrauded by the Filipino-owned Alpha Assistenza SRL.

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“The series of articles and commentary published by the Tribune beginning in September were part of a narrative that was all made up to depict Consul General Cato as a negligent, insensitive, incompetent, and corrupt diplomat who should be removed from his position because he is an embarrassment to the foreign service, ” Cato’s lawyer Jocelyn Martinez-Clemente said in a statement.

The lawyer said Cato was dragged into the controversy because of business rivalry among Filipino-owned agencies in Milan.

Press freedom and freedom of expression advocates have long campaigned for the decriminalization of libel, saying the law can be used to punish legitimate exercises of those rights.