Put one in the win column for former Sen. Manny Pacquiao.
The Davao City Prosecutor's Office has dismissed the cyberlibel case filed against him by Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
The former boxing champ's lawyers cited the decision of the Davao City Prosecutor's Office.
"We are happy that the Office of the City Prosecutor in Davao City dismissed the case swiftly," Ian Vincent S. Ludovice, one of Pacquiao’s lawyers during the presidential campaign, said Saturday, Oct. 15.
“When we received the notice about Pastor Quiboloy’s complaint, I told Manny Pacquiao that this might be just related to the election and will just go away after it, especially that we have great lawyers in Davao City. True enough, the complaint was dismissed just a few months after the election and we thank the fair and speedy resolution of the Office of the Prosecutor of Davao City,” he added.
In a six-page resolution approved by Jhopee Avancena, City Prosecutor, the Office of the City Prosecutor Davao City junked the case due to insufficiency of evidence.
“The Davao City Prosecutor's Office dismissed the cyberlibel charges filed by Apollo Quiboloy against Manny Pacquiao. The said office, citing a Supreme Court case, stated that the remarks directed against a public figure like Quiboloy are privileged. Since the complainant was not able to prove actual malice, the complaint was dismissed," Nikki de Vega, handling and lead counsel of Pacquiao in the Quiboloy case, said.
De Vega served as the spokesperson of Pacquiao during his presidential bid.
Prosecutor II Jose Charito Cortez II, who signed the resolution, said Quiboloy failed present sufficient proof of actual malice.
Quiboloy failed to prove that the subject statements were made with knowledge of falsity or with reckless disregard of whether they were false or not, Cortez added.
Quiboloy, the founder of the Davao City- based Kingdom of
Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name Inc. (KOJC), claimed the eight-time boxing champ on Feb. 14, 2022, uttered statements that were made purposely to malign, discredit, insult, and assassinate his character to his congregations and to the general public.