A former barangay captain and barangay administrator of Alijis in Bacolod City were found guilty of libel yesterday and sentenced to pay a fine of P6,000 with subsidiary imprisonment for failure to do so.

Found guilty by Regional Trial Court Branch 41 Judge Ray Alan Drilon were former Alijis barangay captain Deogracias dela Vega and barangay administrator Raymundo Britanico Jr.

Drilon also ordered the two to jointly pay the complainant April Lyn Vargas P250,000 in moral damages and P60,000 in attorney's fees.

The Office of the Ombudsman for Visayas charged dela Vega and Britanico of the offense of libel for posting on the wall of the Alijis barangay hall a complaint for malversation filed against Vargas on August 2008 before she received her copy.

The judge noted that the complaint of dela Vega against Vargas did not prosper as it was deemed terminated by the Ombudsman without any indictment.

At the time of the posting, Vargas was Sangguniang Kabataan chairman of the barangay, and a minor, being only 17 years old.

Vargas said the posting of the complaint on the wall of the barangay hall by Britanico was on the instructions of dela Vega. She believes she was unfairly charged by dela Vega because she was perceived to be on the side of his political rivals.

The defendants said they posted the complaint in the interest of the people of the barangay.

The judge said it appeared that the alleged complaint for malversation was posted on the wall of the barangay even before it was filed with the Ombudsman. “Ill will with malice and bad motive could be deduced from the actuation of the defendants,” the judge said.

After the posting of the document, dela Vega withheld the honoraria of Vargas without any other justification except to claim that she had a pending case with the Ombudsman, of which case he was also the author, the judge noted.

Notwithstanding the opinion of the Department of Interior and Local Government that he had no authority to withhold the honorarium of Vargas, dela Vega refused to release it, the judge also noted.

Even a resolution by the Bacolod City council directing him to release the honorarium could not move dela Vega to do so, he added.

Dela Vega's acts directed at Vargas only proved that there was no justifiable motive to the positing of complaint against her but to harass and expose her to public humiliation, ridicule and unfounded condemnation, the judge said.

He also noted that dela Vega did not allow a complaint against him to similarly be posted for public view in the barangay. This negates the claim of the defendants that they acted without malice, the judge said.*CPG

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