SC affirms dismissal of Enrile libel suit vs. columnist

Enrile’s original libel suit was dismissed by the Pasay City Regional Trial Court, prompting Enrile to take the case to the CA in 2014. (File Photo: Juan Ponce Enrile/Facebook)

MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) upheld the dismissal of a libel case filed by former senator Juan Ponce Enrile against a newspaper columnist in 2012.

In a resolution dated February 19 and released on Tuesday, the SC through First Division Clerk of Court Librada Buena upheld an earlier decision of the Court of Appeals (CA), junking Enrile’s petition for failure “to sufficiently show that the Court of Appeals committed any reversible error in the challenged decision and resolution.”

Enrile’s original libel suit was dismissed by the Pasay City Regional Trial Court, prompting Enrile to take the case to the CA in 2014.

Enrile, who last served as a senator from June 20, 2004 to June 30, 2016, sued newspaper columnist Yolanda “Yoly” Villanueva-Ong over an article titled “Like father, like son?” published on the Philippine Star on Oct. 26, 2012.

The former senator earlier described the report as malicious and aimed at tarnishing his reputation.

Enrile’s son, then Cagayan Rep. Juan Castaner Ponce Enrile, popularly known as Jack Enrile, was a candidate who lost in the 2013 senatorial elections.