In a decision by Makati RTC Branch 148 Judge Andres Soriano, Trillanes was fined PHP 100,000 and was ordered to pay PHP 500,000 to Binay for moral damages.
"Making and releasing the subject statements absent a serious verification and investigation is recklessness bordering on a disregard of what is true or false," said the RTC in finding Trillanes guilty.
During a series of interviews in April 2015, the former senator claimed that members of the 6th Division of the Court of Appeals were given bribes in millions of pesos to stop the first suspension order issued by the Office of the Ombudsman on Binay over alleged anomalies in the construction of Makati City Hall Building 2.
Trillanes also accused Binay of being part of a 'family of syndicates.' He also filed a resolution calling for a Senate investigation into the alleged “justice for sale” issue.
According to the local court, Trillanes "should not have relied on his assumptions and should have refrained from making such grave allegations against the private complainant and his family, until after the proper verification was completed and the appropriate resolution was filed before the Senate."
It added that Trillanes cannot also use as a cloak the right to freedom of expression or speech.
"The exercise of any right enshrined in the Bill of Right comes with an equal burden of responsible exercise of that right. The recognition of a right is not free license for the one claiming it to run roughshod over the rights of others," the court ruled.
The court also noted that Trillanes cannot use the resolution of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee recommending the filing of corruption charges against the Binays for their alleged involvement in anomalous contracts in the city as his vindication in the libel case because it is different and distinct from his allegation involving Court of Appeals Justices.
In a statement, Trillanes said he will do everything to overturn the court’s ruling.
"That is the price to pay for standing up against very powerful people. Regardless, we will not let this legal setback discourage us in pursuing our advocacy to purge our government of corrupt and abusive public officials," he said.
