Former Senator Antonio Trillanes filed libel charges against Atty. Harry Roque, vlogger Byron Cristobal a.k.a Banat By, SMNI hosts, and "pro-Duterte trolls" on Tuesday at the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
In an X (formerly Twitter) post, Trillanes said that he filed the libel and cyber libel case against the accused for spreading fake news against him on different social media platforms.
Ngayong araw na ito, tayo po ay nagsampa ng kasong libel at cyber libel sa Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office at sa National Bureau of Investigation laban kina Atty. Harry Roque, Vlogger Banat By, mga hosts ng SMNI, at mga pro-duterte trolls na patuloy na nagkakalat ng fake news sa…
— Sonny Trillanes IV (@TrillanesSonny) May 14, 2024
Among the mentioned trolls are the following:
- Mr. Realtalker or Lods Chinito (with Tiktok handles @chinitorealtalker and @chinitotisoy01)
- Melagin Nastor Evangelista o CATASTROPHE (with X handle @gurlbehindthisb)
- JoeLas (with X handle @j_laspinas)
- Michael Gorre of KampilaBoy (with X handle @KampilanBoy)
- Hampaslupang Mandaragat (with X handle, @JohnAmasa2)
- X handle: @SaraAll2028
Roque's involvement in the libel complaint stemmed from his video on Facebook accusing Trillanes of giving away Scarborough Shoal to China in 2012.
Trillanes stressed that Cristobal played Roque’s remarks in his video, expressing his agreement with the statements.
The former lawmaker and military officer also filed a complaint against a Davao businessman, claiming that he tried to pay her to be a fake witness against former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Trillanes was urged to also file libel against SMNI hosts for broadcasting the latter.
"Ito ang ating push back doon sa kanilang pagdisseminate ng false information at mga fake news laban sa akin. Ngayon sa panahon na ito makakuha na tayo ng hustisya. Hindi natin ito inaasahan noong panahon ni Duterte kaya ngayon natin naisipang ifile ito," Trillanes said in an ambush interview with reporters.
"Dito natin makikita na kung ano yung ibinibintang nila sa akin kung ano yung basis nung aking mga libel charges, 'e yun pala sila ang gumagawa. Sila pala yung nagkompurmiso sa interes ng ating bansa dyan sa West Philippine Sea," he added.
For the former Senator, these acts are violations of Section 4(c), paragraph 4 concerning Section 6 of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, and Articles 353 to 355 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Section 91 of Republic Act 10951.
Trillanes warned that if people continued to post false information about him on social media, he would report them to the NBI.
