A Makati court has found former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV guilty of libel over statements he made against then Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay in 2015, where he accused the latter of bribery and corruption.
The Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 has fined Trillanes P100,000 and ordered to pay Binay P500,000 in moral damages.
The local court ruled that Trillanes “should not have relied on his assumptions and should have refrained from making such grave allegations against the private complainant and his family, until after the proper verification was completed and the appropriate resolution was filed before the Senate.” The court also said that Trillanes cannot use the freedom of expression or speech as a defense, noting that: “The exercise of any right enshrined in the Bill of Right comes with an equal burden of responsible exercise of that right. The recognition of a right is not free license for the one claiming it to run roughshod over the rights of others.”