BAGUIO CITY - A former columnist of The Junction weekly newspaper was acquitted by the Regional Trial Court of Baguio City in the P2-million libel suit filed against him by aom Nueva Ecija businesswoman four years ago.
Acquitted in a 17-page decision of Judge Fernando Vil Pamintuan of Branch 3 of the Baguio City Regional Trial Court last OCt. 6 was Antonio Vallejo.
THe court ruled there could be no malice when Vallejo, a resident of San Jose City, Nueva Ecija (Central Luzon) referred to complainant Lovely L. Ladignon as a “fugitive arrested for multiple bouncing checks,” in his report. Ladignon also uses the aliases Lovely de Vera and Lovely Mandapat in her public documents.
The questioned phrase was part of the article written by Vallejo on thee March 16, 2002 issue of the paper, about the complainant from Nueva Ecija who was earlier charged with multiple criminal cases in different Nueva Ecija courts for violation of B.P. 22 and estafa.
The court noted the evidences that the news item was sourced from police and court records and was written based on the arrest made by the members of the Cabanatuan City police and NBI agents. (Armand M. Galang)
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