{"id":229334,"date":"2019-09-03T21:00:21","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T01:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=229334"},"modified":"2019-09-03T21:00:21","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T01:00:21","slug":"panelo-to-sue-inquirer-rappler-for-libel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/09\/03\/panelo-to-sue-inquirer-rappler-for-libel\/","title":{"rendered":"Panelo to sue Inquirer, Rappler for libel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Panelo, who is also Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, said he will be filing libel complaints against the two news outlets for their \u201cmalicious\u201d reports which are meant to discredit him. (File Photo<\/a>: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Online news outlets Inquirer.net and Rappler may soon be facing libel charges for publishing reports claiming that Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo \u201crecommended\u201d or \u201cendorsed\u201d the granting of executive clemency for convicted rapist-murderer, former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez.<\/p>\n

Panelo, who is also Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, said he will be filing libel complaints against the two news outlets for their \u201cmalicious\u201d reports which are meant to discredit him.<\/p>\n

Inquirer.net used the word \u201crecommended\u201d while Rappler used the word \u201cendorsed\u201d when Panelo insisted he only referred the letter to the appropriate agency or department.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m filing a libel case against Inquirer.net and Rappler for publishing these malicious articles immediately,\u201d Panelo said in a media interview on Tuesday but did not give an exact date when to file the charges.<\/p>\n

Because of the words used in the report, Panelo said, \u201cpeople are saying now that I really did something about the so-called release.\u201d<\/p>\n

He reiterated that he merely wrote a referral letter to the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) to act on the request of Sanchez\u2019s daughter, Marie Antonelvie, to grant her father pardon but \u201cnever recommended anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe application was referred to the Bureau of Pardons and Parole [sic] for their evaluation. We have nothing to do with it. But then they\u2019re writing an article saying I recommended, I did not,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

He said he asked both Inquirer.net and Rappler to correct their reports but they have not tried to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI demanded rectification from NetInquirer (Inquirer.net) but I have not received any report from them. I sent a text earlier just before the press briefing. I also texted Pia (Ranada of Rappler) and I told her no intervention, I explained to her but she has not responded. She just said \u2018got it.,\u2019\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Panelo, who was a former broadcaster himself, said journalists \u201cshould be writing accurately.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe letter says I\u2019m just referring the letter and when they said it was denied, I said \u2018Thank you for your prompt response, nothing more,\u2019\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

He said he did not feel the need to inhibit from writing a referral letter despite being Sanchez\u2019s former lawyer since he was only performing official duties by responding to all letters by referring it to the proper agency or department.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter to me because you cannot discriminate otherwise you will also be accused of discriminating them because you were a former lawyer of 27 years. The president said is you have to respond to all,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the first place, the letter was not even in reference to Republic Act No. 10592, it refers to their applying for clemency,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

R.A. 10592 or the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) law provides new guidelines on how to compute good conduct time, including a 20-day deduction for each month of good behavior during the first two years of imprisonment.<\/p>\n

No influential person<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo also rejected the claim of Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Ferdinand Gaite, who said the Palace official\u2019s letter of referral could be interpreted as \u201cintervention to act favorably on the application of early release\u201d of Sanchez.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the first place, it was not a referral letter to act favorably. The letter speaks for itself, it was an ordinary referral of them to do something about the request. That\u2019s for them (BPP) to decide, we have nothing to do with it,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

He said there is no influential person to President Rodrigo Duterte and that a letter bearing his signature and his office\u2019s official seal should not put pressure on any department to act favorably.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name does not carry weight because the president\u2019s policy to all of us, walang (there are no) sacred cow dito (here).\u00a0Kaya lahat kami alam namin yun. Walang makaka-impluwensiya kahit kanino<\/em>\u00a0(We all know that. Nobody can influence anyone),\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Panelo said all letters of referral are sent to heads of agencies and departments who are \u201cresponsible, competent, and intelligent enough\u201d to follow the President\u2019s policy.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Inquirer.net said it respected Panelo\u2019s right to sue for libel \u201cif he feels aggrieved by the report.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shall refer the matter to our lawyers when he files the suit,\u201d Inquirer.net said.<\/p>\n

In a separate statement, Rappler described Panelo\u2019s libel threat as \u201cpure diversionary tactic\u201d, noting that the Palace official should have just answered questions about his possible conflicts of interest instead of \u201cshooting the messenger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Online news outlets Inquirer.net and Rappler may soon be facing libel charges for publishing reports claiming that Presidential Spokesperson …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":207213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229335,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229334\/revisions\/229335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}