Pro-Duterte blogger sued for libel pleads not guilty

MANILA, Philippines — A pro-Duterte blogger yesterday pleaded not guilty to the libel complaint filed against him by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

Rey Joseph Nieto entered his plea before Judge Wilhelmina Wagan of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 111.

The court set the next hearings on Dec. 5 and Jan. 20 in 2019.

Trillanes filed libel charges against Nieto for allegedly labeling him as a “narco” in one of his social media posts.

The case stemmed from Nieto’s Facebook post where he said that, “US President Trump reportedly called Senator Antonio Trillanes IV a ‘narco,’” which is a colloquial word for a drug lord.

Trillanes described Nieto’s claim as fake news.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked a Makati court handling the coup d’etat case against Trillanes to junk the testimonies of his witnesses. 

State prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon urged Judge Andres Bartolome Soriano of the Makati City RTC Branch 148 to nullify the evidence presented by Trillanes on Oct. 5 to prove that he had applied for amnesty over the 2003 Oakwook mutiny.

The DOJ reopened the coup d’etat case against Trillanes after President Duterte issued Proclamation No. 75, voiding the amnesty granted to him by former president Benigno Aquino III in 2011. – Robertzon Ramirez