Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday, July 14 filed a cyberlibel complaint against former Department of Energy (DOE) secretary Alfonso Cusi at the Valenzuela City Prosecutor’s Office.

Gatchalian’s complaint was based on Cusi’s official statement posted on the DOE website on February 4, 2022 that casts malice on the reputation and integrity of the senator and the Senate Committee on Energy’s investigation during the 18th Congress on the issues surrounding the transfer of the 45 percent participating interest of Chevron Philippines in the Malampaya gas project.

Gatchalian, who headed the Senate Energy Committee in the previous Congress, said Cusi’s statement was defamatory because it characterizes the committee hearings as based solely on speculation and hearsay propagated by certain business interests.

“Cusi’s statement is clearly defamatory and obviously intended to cause dishonor, discredit, or contempt not merely of my position as a Senator of the Republic but more importantly of my integrity as a public servant,” Gatchalian said.

He added Cusi’s statement put into question the integrity of the whole Senate as an institution.

“A simple reading of Cusi’s statement shows that he characterizes the conduct of the Senate investigation as being tainted with bad faith for being highly irregular and politicized,” he added.

Cusi made his statement after the Senate Resolution No. 137, proposed by Gatchalian and adopted by the Senate, was transmitted to the Office of the Ombudsman.

The said resolution expressed the sense of the Senate for the filing of appropriate criminal and administrative charges for gross neglect of duty, grave misconduct, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service against Cusi and other concerned DOE officials who approved and recommended the Chevron Philippines-UC Malampaya transaction contrary to law and regulation.

Gatchalian also filed the Chairman’s Report, which was the basis of the said Senate Resolution, before the Ombudsman and the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

“Cusi’s statement was made with actual malice because from the very beginning, he knows that his statement is untruthful since he is aware that I or any of the members of the Senate Committee on Energy were never influenced by any business interest in the course of the Senate investigation,” Gatchalian said.

“He never called my attention to my alleged involvement in whatever he was ranting about nor did he raise the issue, whether formally or informally, during the Senate investigation,” he said.

The senator said Cusi should have filed a complaint against him before the Senate Ethics Committee or the Office of the Ombudsman if he believes he committed a crime.

“Until the present, I have not received any formal complaint regarding this matter,” he pointed out.