Philippines: Tabloid columnist, editors and publisher face libel charges; court denies petition filed by newspaper staff

IFEX ::

(CMFR/IFEX) - On 16 September 2008, the Philippines Supreme Court upheld the guilty verdict on a 1999 libel case filed by a customs official against a columnist, three editors, and the publisher of a local tabloid. Libel is a criminal offence punishable with jail terms in the Philippines.

The Supreme Court's Second Division denied the petitions filed by columnist and broadcaster Erwin Tulfo, editors Susan Cambri, Rey Salao and Jocelyn Barlizo, and Carlo Publishing House Inc. president Philip Pichay, asking for the reversal of a Court of Appeals decision upholding their conviction in a libel case filed by lawyer Carlos So. So was an official with the Bureau of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Services at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

So filed the libel case after Tulfo accused him of corruption and extortion several times in his "Direct Hit" column in the tabloid "Remate" in 1999.