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Saturday, January 23, 2010

Libelous?

 Dear insansapinas,


The news:



Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Aid is reaching earthquake-torn Haiti, but getting it to the people who need it remains a challenge.

Large quantities of medications, baby formula and other relief supplies are sitting on the tarmac and in warehouses at the Port-au-Prince airport, but no one is moving it out, according to CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta.

"It's like everywhere we go, just walking through the airport, outside the airport even, people are saying, 'We need supplies,' " Gupta said.
Gupta found pallets of formula, pain medication and antibiotics standing unattended next to the runway.
U.S. military personnel in a warehouse tent at the airport gave Gupta a trash bag full of supplies to take back to a hospital he had visited earlier but couldn't explain why.

And this is the link of the controversial post of Ella Ganda regarding the relief goods that she claimed were "rotting" in the DWSD warehouse and were not moving fast enough  to reach the intended recipients--the victim of Ondoy.



photocredit:MSNBC
The blogger is now facing libel charge from the then DSWD Secretary, Esperanza Cabral and now the Health Secretary.


I am not a lawyer and therefore I can not say whether the post is libelous or not. 

What I remember is the case of a well known blogger who was threatened with a  libel case because he refused to remove a an allegedly libelous comment in his box. He spent time, money and effort to make the case go away. 

There are readers who out of their rage can write foul comments and or words derogatory to some people that may put the blogger in hot water. This is where we can make use of  the moderation option in our dashboard. The commenters are anonymous or are using disposable handles and therefore can easily get away from legal tangles thus they are bold to write whatever they wanted to say which are oftentimes offensive and vulgar.



As Atty. Biyay said in one of my blogs, 
"your freedom ends where my nose begins". kahit sabihin pa natin na tayo ay malaya, ang kalayaang ito ay may mga limitasyon na ipinapataw ng batas. hindi tayo basta-basta kukuha ng gamit ng ibang tao, o mananakit ng kapwa o kaya ay manira ng pangalan o reputasyon. kahit walang pinag-aralan, alam dapat yun.


So calling someone stupid moron is not an opinion. Accusing someone as incompetent because she did not do her job with facts to boot is a matter of opinion.


Pinaysaamerika

14 comments:

biyay said...

this case will be interesting as we can check whether libel laws will apply to internet media. professionally speaking, i hope the case will reach the supreme court so we can see whether electronic evidence will indeed apply to criminal cases. if applicable in both cases, bulabog ang internet

biyay said...

of course, it still has to be determined whether ella's post is libelous (has malice intended) or is an honest criticism of official non-action. whether her allegations are true or not is beside the point

biyay said...

sinabi ng supreme court sa kasong guingging vs. CA na "in order to justify a conviction for criminal libel against a public figure, it must be established beyond reasonable doubt that the libelous statements were made or published with actual malice, meaning knowledge that the statement was false or with reckless disregard as to whether or not it was true"

ang naging ruling doon: "Aside from the fact that the information contained in said publication was true, the intention to let the public know the character of their radio commentator can at best be subsumed under the mantle of having been done with good motives and for justifiable ends"

so, ang tanong: pwede bang makasohan si ella ganda ng libel? pwede. admissible in evidence ba ang blog post nya? posible. pwede ba syang ma-convict ng libel? medyo malabo.

cathy said...

Biyay,
intriga at challenging. kailangan mabantayan ang mga updates.

makakuha ka ng Boy Bawang habang pinapanood ko ang mga susunod na pangyayari.

cathy said...

ang sa tingin ko ay more on honest criticism.

The intention is to make these people aware that the public know the status of the relief goods.

Sa tingin ko, Cabral has already gone out of her way to explain the cause of the delay,one in response to the blog and the other one was a press release explaining the standard operations of handling the donations.

And I thought this case has already been resolved.

cathy said...

thank you biyay sa explanation.

sabi nga nila, may karapatan silang magsampa ng kaso. Ang kaso ay may tanong na mananalo ba?

cathy said...

Kaya ako kung si Ella Ganda, ilalagay ko sa aking blog...ANG BLOGGER NA NAIDEMANDA DAHIL SA MAGANDA. Ahehek.

rally vincent said...

Sa akin madam cat,

Its too much. Kasi kung sinasabi ng DSWD na hindi nila tinetengga ang relief goods, then they should show sa bayan na here we are, this is how we deliver goods hoolah-balah. Simple as that para patay ang issue agad.

Tingin ko sourgrapes itong si DSWD secretary. Hindi naka-move on. Awts.

Why cant they provide better services na lang di ba?? Hay ewan.

Madam, pahingi ng Boy Bawang din. Masarap isama sa kape yan. Heheh.

biyay said...

miss cath, hindi importante kung mananalo sa kaso. matagal pa yun. by the time na lumabas ang desisyon, nakalimutan na ng mga tao. ang importante sa ngayon, naka-save face sila by filing the case.

sa tono ng post ni ella, para ngang honest criticism. ang problema nga lang, nag-ask sya na ikalat yun. so parang may element ng malice dun. pero kung basehan mo guingging case, pwede pa ring makalusot.

pwes, itaas ang mga paa sa mesa, ilabas na rin ang orinola. sa iyo ang boy bawang, akin na lang ang chichacorn at kropek.

cathy said...

silver,
kape at boy bawang?

wow bago yan ha. yong anak ng aking kaibigan sa daycare, yan ang paboritong snacks.

cathy said...

biyay.
ganyan naman talaga sa atin di ba. tagal matapos ang kaso. yong nabalitang livel suit doon sa mga pamilyang nag-aaway-away sa golf course ay nasettle yata out of court.

saan ko ba nabasa yon.

mas masarap ang kropeck.

rally vincent said...

Try mo minsan madam. Nakuha ko lang ang ganyang style ng meryenda (boy bawang at kape) nung nagtratrabaho ako sa manufacturing. Mabisang pamatay ng antok at boredom sa akin. Hahhaha.

rally vincent said...

biyay,

natatawa na nga lang ako sa DSWD secretary. di talaga naka-move on. hehhehe.

meron ngang biruan dito sa amin, pag times daw ng calamities, sya ding labasan ng mga ukay-ukay. heheheh.

cathy said...

silver,
ang pamatay ko ng antok dito ay yong sunflower seeds. para ring butong pakwan. saka iinom ako ng tea.