Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon filed Monday a cyber libel complaint against former Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel Mejorada, previously sentenced to jail for libel over an earlier case filed by the senator.
In his complaint before Pasay City Prosecutor Elmer Cris Rillo, Drilon said Mejorada, who served as Iloilo provincial administrator from 2001 to 2010, continued to “maliciously accuse” him of corruption, despite being convicted of libel.
Mejorada published videos on YouTube accusing Drilon of corruption, overpricing, and other anomalies.
“The imputation of these crimes is part of the continuous and deliberate efforts of Mr. Mejorada to injure my reputation and character,” Drilon said.
According to Drilon, Mejorada uploaded to his Youtube account the following videos:
• Drilon’s monument of corruption revisited—uploaded on May 27
• Ang pagbaboy ni Drilon ng perang galing sa DAP sa Iloilo Convention Center (Drilon’s travesty for the money from DAP used for the Iloilo Convention Center)—uploaded on May 29
• Disadvantageous, onerous, lopsided ang contract ni Drilon sa (are Drilon’s contracts on) Iloilo Convention Center—uploaded on June 2
• Huli si Drilon sa kanyang kasinungalingan (Drilon was caught for his lies)—uploaded on June 12
Said Drilon: “I was already taken aback by the individual titles of the videos themselves, as these already clearly show an imputation on my person of a crime, or of a vice or defect.”
Drilon said Mejorada continued to publish libelous statements, and “incessantly republished” previous content already deemed libelous by a court of law.
Mejorada filed in October 2014 charges against Drilon before the Office of the Ombudsman, claiming the senator had a hand in the supposedly overpriced P679.8-million Ilolilo Convention Center.
Asked to appear in the Senate and present evidence to back his allegation, he said he had nothing to show.
Mejorada, convicted by a Pasay court in 2014 and sentenced to two to four years jail, was also criticized for citing Wikipedia and gossip as sources for his allegations. The Ombudsman dismissed his claims against Drilon as “baseless and malicious.”