Revillame files case vs ABS-CBN

MANILA, Philippines - Comedian and television host Willie Revillame has brought his rift with former mother network ABS-CBN before the court, seeking “judicial confirmation” of his rescission of contract as host of the noontime show Wowowee.

The TV host last Friday filed the case for Judicial Confirmation of Rescission of Contract with Damages before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

Revillame asked for more than P11 million in damages and legal fees from the TV network. The complaint was raffled off yesterday to the Quezon City RTC Branch 84 under Judge Luisito Cortez.

The host said he had already ended his contract with the network “for valid reasons” but the latter has publicly disputed it, saying they were the aggrieved party.

“So the public may know the truth as to who really is the aggrieved party, who truly is at fault, who has been insincere, who acted with evident bad faith, and who broke promises, plaintiff desires to have this recission judicially confirmed,” the TV host said in the complaint.

Revillame entered a contract with ABS-CBN to host Wowowee in September 2008 valid for a period of three years. Last May 25, the TV station suspended the host for three months without pay after he publicly asked the network to sack talent and showbiz scribe Jobert Sucaldito for allegedly attacking him on the latter’s radio program.

Revillame claimed that on July 10, he met with Florida “Linggit” Tan, ABS-CBN’s head of entertainment production, in her residence where they agreed he would return to Wowowee on July 31.

However, during a meeting on July 20, Tan allegedly told him that the network had changed its mind and instead offered him a once-a-week program on prime time and a show on Studio 23.

The network purportedly wrote him a letter dated July 26 about this. He wrote back on Aug. 9, rescinding his contract with the TV station and held a press conference about it.

Revillame claimed that ABS-CBN breached the provisions of their contract when it suspended him without pay, cancelled Wowowee, and downgraded his program from three hours daily or 18 hours weekly to just one hour weekly, or 17 hours less.

Stressing that his contract stated a live telecast, he also claimed the network placed him on probation without assurance of reinstatement, and also downgraded his appearance from a live to a pre-recorded program, which constitutes censorship and prior restraint.

He stated that under this setup, he would be deprived of his earning from “in-show” product endorsements, which has become part of his compensation package.

Revillame’s counsel Leonard de Vera said that the suspension without pay and the placing of his client under probation are “valid grounds” for him to terminate the contract.

The TV host claimed that the network did a “deliberate sabotage” of his image through the airing of “destructive pieces” against him instead of promoting him as its talent.

Apart from confirming the termination of his contract, the host asked for P5 million in moral damages, P5 million in exemplary damages, attorneys’ fees of P1 million, as well as P500,000 for “other expenses and cost of litigation.”

In a statement, Revillame said he is willing to forgo his claim for damages if he and ABS-CBN can go their separate ways amenably.

“For five years-and-a-half buhay ko ang ibinigay ko dyan (I gave my life there). From nine o’clock in the morning hanggang gabi, ideas ko ibinigay ko sa kanila. Bakit ganyan ang trato nila sa akin (From nine in the morning till night, I gave them my ideas. Why did they treat me this way),” he said.