Trillanes found guilty of libel over 2015 statements vs ex-Makati mayor Junjun Binay

MANILA (UPDATED)- A Makati court on Monday found ex-Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV guilty of libel over his statements to the media against former Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, linking the latter to “Justice for Sale” issue in 2015.

The Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 fined the senator P100,000, and P500,000 in moral damages.

Makati judge Andres Soriano said Trillanes should have refrained from making grave allegations against Binay, without serious verification and investigation.

Trillanes, in April 2015, accused the Binays of supposedly paying a huge sum to secure an injunction order from the court, based on excerpts of the 31-page ruling which ABS-CBN News obtained.

He particularly singled out “Mayor Junjun” in his statements, accusing him of being part of a "family of syndicates".

• Trillanes says he 'validated' bribery claim

Soriano said Trillanes filed a resolution to probe Binay only after making the statements to the media.

“Making and releasing the subject statements absent a serious verification and investigation is recklessness bordering on a disregard of what is true of false,” he said in the ruling, referring to the rule in libel against public figures requiring the existence of malice — the knowledge that the statement is false or with reckless disregard as to whether or not it was true.

That Senate investigation however did not push through as Trillanes was prevailed upon by his colleagues to allow the Judiciary to conduct its own investigations, the ruling said.

Trillanes eventually met with a representative of then-Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and gave a folder sensitive information to a Justice Reyes from the Court of Appeals, supposedly containing the results of the lifestyle checks.

But according to Soriano, the statements of Trillanes were self-serving and no independent evidence were presented to substantiate his claims.

The judge rejected Trillanes’ invocation of freedom of expression or speech, saying such right must be exercised responsibly. He also ruled that the absence of reporters, writers and publishers behind the news reports did not affect Trillanes’ case.

Soriano, who previously junked the government's bid to revive the coup d’etat case against Trillanes, imposed a P100,000 fine on the senator instead of jailtime, following a Supreme Court circular preferring imposition of fines in libel cases.

He rejected Binay’s claims for millions in moral damages.

Trillanes, meanwhile, said the conviction was a "price to pay for standing up against very powerful people."

"We intend to exhaust all legal remedies to overturn (the) ruling. Regardless, we will not let this legal setback discourage us in pursuing our advocacy to purge our (government) of corrupt and abusive public officials," he said.

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