The barangay captain and barangay treasurer of Brgy. Singcang-Airport in Bacolod City filed libel charges against six kagawads in their barangay before the Bacolod Prosecutor’s Office yesterday for allegedly distributing a manifesto on the cases filed against them.

In their joint affidavit, Barangay Captain Ferdinand Odango and Treasurer Roger Jaype, said that on Jan. 21, 2009 a manifesto was signed by Kagawads Rodolfo Yap, Abner Gonzales Jr., Vicente Sabornay, Simplicia Distrito, Jorge Abastillas and Rosinie Distrito, and circulated in the barangay.

They said the signatories were responsible for the public and open distribution of the manifesto which imputed a crime that caused them dishonor, discredit or contempt.

The copies of the manifesto were distributed to barangay workers and some were left on top of their tables, they said, adding that the imputation in the manifesto caused them sleepless nights, besmirched their reputation, and wounded their feelings.

Caesar Distrito, one of the legal counsels of the respondents, said there was nothing libelous in their manifesto. It contained a general statement and did not even mention the names of Odango and Jaype, he said.

It only implied “down all those grafters” because the law prohibits graft and corruption, he added.

Distrito said that, contrary to their claims, all the cases they filed against Odango and Jaype happened after his father, former Barangay Captain Ronnie Distrito, had passed away on April 10, 2008.

Distrito said he has disbursement vouchers and purchase orders for the repair of the day care centers dated September 2008.

The ghost medical supplies were purchased in July and the vouchers and checks were signed by Odango, he said. All the complainants are residents of the barangay, he added.

Yap said they will just answer the charges.

Meanwhile, Distrito said he, together with his mother Simplicia and brother Rosinie also filed libel charges against Odango and Jaype yesterday for issuing libelous statements against their deceased father.

He said “Their statements that all the cases we filed against them happened during the term of our father were libelous and malicious.” Libel can be committed by blackening the memory of a dead person, he added.

Distrito said their father was the only barangay captain who got more than 5,000 votes in the 2007 election. He died with a good and well-preserved name, he said.*CGS

back to top