February 1, 2017 THE HONORABLE CITY PROSECUTOR Office of the Bacolod City Prosecutor Bacolod City, Ne! Occ!
RE" COUNT CO UNTER ER A## A##I$ I$A%IT A%IT #OR LIBEL LIBE L I!S! NO! &'()& &'( )& *
SIR" The undersigned counsel respectfully submits the hereto attached Counter-Aff Counter-Affidavit idavit of espondents espondents +ANUE +ANUEL L BOYBOY- +E.ORA +E.ORA$A $A,, RO++EL S! YNION and YNION and .UNEP OCA+PO pertaining OCA+PO pertaining to the criminal comp compla lain intt file filed d agai agains nstt them them for for LIBEL by the the comp compla lain inan antt .E$ PATRIC/ PATRIC/ E! +ABILO0 ! "e respect respectful fully ly re#uest re#uest that that aside aside from from consid consideri ering ng the counter counter-affidavit of the respondent, your office shall also set a clarificatory hearing by the parties in order to personally assess the credibility of their statements and possibly determine $hose version of the story is the truth! Than% you very much for your usual %ind accommodation on the matter&
'ery Truly (ours,
ATTY! +ARY ANNE CANETE Counsel for the Respondents
)100 *a +alle Avenue, acolod City Telephone o! .0/ 12/-)7 12/- )7
COPY #URNISHE$"
ATTY! .UAN $E LA CRU1 Cou2sel for Pri3ate Co45lai2a2t m! 3) 4abal 4abal ldg, acolod City!
epublic of the 5hilippines acolod City +!c! 6------------------------------------6
COUNTER'A##I$A%IT
"e, +ANUEL BOY- +E.ORA$A, RO++EL S! YNION and .UNEP OCA+PO, all of legal age, Filipino citiens and $ith business office address at 2 nd Floor, a#uillos Arcade, 2 th Calamba +treet, rgy! anago, acolod City, 5hilippines, after having been s$orn in accordance $ith la$ do hereby depose and say8 1 That $e are the respondents in 9!+! Case o! 1-2017 filed against us by the herein complainant :ed 5atric% ;!
That 9 .espondent orada based my article on facts and written and published in consonance with my duty as a journalist to expose the truth, and comment on it, no matter how harsh, about the character and behavior of public officials, untainted by malice or intent to libel complainant herein.
That $e did not maliciously impute any dishonor or discredit to the person of complainant herein= ) That $e therefore deny to have published or caused to publish any malicious imputation against complainants= 7 That the article $as $ritten in good faith and in pursuit of the public good= ? That the document allegedly containing the defamatory imputations, in fact and in truth, does not contain defamatory matters that can be considered libelous! eing so, the Complaint-Affidavit failed miserably to A**;@;, <C4 *;++ ;+TA*9+4, that the alleged defamatory imputations in The e$s Today, Bpinion +ection page .'ol! 12 o! 0 can be considered libelous=
3 That $e are e6ecuting this affidavit in order to attest to all the foregoing facts and for $hatever legal purpose it may best serve! @iven the above arguments, it is apparent the instant complaint, as $ell as the evidences attached thereto, is not sufficient to engender a $ell-founded belief that an offense has been committed! There is no probable cause to hold us liable for *9;* as defined in the evised 5enal Code! Thus, the present complaint +4B* ; 9+<9++; FB TT; *ACD BF <;9T! Affiants sayeth naught!
+ANUEL +E.ORA$A
Affiant
RO++EL S!YNION Affiant
.UNEP OCA+PO Affiant
SUBSCRIBE$ AN$ S6ORN to before me this EEEE day of February 2017 at acolod City, eg! Bcc! 9 hereby certify that 9 have personally e6amined the respondents and 9 am satisfied that they understood and voluntarily e6ecuted their counter-affidavit!
ASST! CITY PROS! RE CHARLES P! TUPAS Investigating Prosecutor
oc! o! EEEEEE= 5age o! EEEEEE= oo% o! EEEEEE= +eries of 2017!
