Osmeña sues Alcover for ‘libelous’ FB post

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has filed administrative and criminal complaints against Councilor Pastor Alcover, Jr. who allegedly maligned his reputation by spreading false information relating to the Ateneo bullying incident.

In his 18-page complaint, the mayor accused Alcover of violating Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, or the Revised Penal Code, Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, and grave misconduct.

“Respondent Councilor Alcover’s malicious act of attributing to me –or making it appear to the public that I made a statement condoning the act of bullying in the viral videos of AJHS students clearly constitutes libel,” reads portion of the complaint.

Last Tuesday afternoon, the mayor, who was assisted by lawyers from SALiGAL Law office, filed the case before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.

On December 20, 2018, there was a viral video that circulated on social media of an alleged bullying incident involving Ateneo de Manila Junior High School students.

A day after the video went viral, Alcover, one of the critics of the mayor, reportedly posted in his Facebook account a photo with the mayor’s face and the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan’s logo with the statement that the mayor reportedly issued on the bullying incident.

Alcover reportedly posted the statement of Osmeña as follows “this boy was not really bullying, he was just teaching his classmate a lesson. Ateneo and the Jesuits are close to my heart. I know they will get through with this.”

“Respondent Councilor Alcover maligned my reputation as mayor of the City of Cebu by attributing to me a statement that I never made. He made it appear that I condoned the alleged bullying incident involving AJHS students, and that I sided with the alleged bully,” read a portion of Osmeña’s complaint.

The mayor denied that he made the statement that was attributed to him, saying it is unthinkable for him to condone such act of bullying which is prohibited under Republic Act No. 10627 or Anti-Bullying Act of 2013.

Sought for comment, Alcover said he has not read the complaint filed against him, adding that he will just issue his statement after reading the accusations of the mayor.

Osmeña said the FB post of Alcover got 557 reactions, 313 comments, with 584 shares which means hundreds of Facebook users, not only from Cebu but from all over the country, have seen and commented to the post.

The mayor included some screenshots of the comment section of Alcover’s post and some of the comments made include “that’s fake news”, “Tomas Osmeña, Bobo mo ha”, “undeserving to be a mayor. What a shame,” among others.

Osmeña said Alcover’s “malicious” act aims to discredit the mayor since the May 2019 elections are fast approaching.

The mayor said Alcover should be made criminally liable for libel and administratively liable for grave misconduct and violation of Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and employees.

Osmeña asked the anti-graft office to preventively suspend Alcover while the investigation is being conducted. — GAN (FREEMAN)