A charge of cyber libel was recently filed against Fermin Diaz, a veteran journalist who mainly covers the agriculture sector. Diaz is currently the editor and managing director of Livestock and Meat Business (LaMB) Magazine, which is a quarterly trade journal.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) recommended the filing of cyber libel charges against Diaz based on a number of alleged malicious, defamatory, and factually incorrect statements that he wrote in an article published last August in the digital news site Rappler.
In the article, the author claimed that the private firm KPP Powers Commodities, Inc. was colluding with regulatory agencies in order to fast track the licensing and sale of a swine vaccine imported from Vietnam. He further alleged that the product was approved as a result of lobbying and political patronage by Vietnam authorities, and that the product itself was ineffective.
“We tried every possible means to reach Mr. Diaz, and to show him conclusively that the allegations he made in his article was simply fake news,” said KPP Powers legal counsel Rey Robles. “Our approach was to be as civil and conciliatory as possible. When he refused to listen to the facts we were presenting, we were left with no choice but to seek the advice of the NBI,” Robles explained.
The NBI found that the claims made by Diaz had no basis, and summoned him to explain his side. Despite a number of attempts made by the Bureau, Diaz chose to ignore the summons.
In the Philippines, the maximum penalty for cyber libel is imprisonment ranging from six years and one day, up to twelve years. In addition to imprisonment, the court may impose fines upon the convicted individual, depending on the circumstances of the particular case.