Former Film Development Council of the Philippines chairperson Liza Diño has filed cyber libel cases against the Philippine Entertainment Portal (Pep.ph) over a series of alleged libelous articles posted on its website in 2023. 

In a statement issued by Atty. Regie Tongol, counsel for Dino, on May 24, Diño has filed four complaints involving 78 counts of cyber libel against Pep.ph editor-in-chief Jo-Ann Maglipon and Pep.Ph news editor and writer Rachelle Siazon.

The complaints also implicate several individuals in various capacities, including actor and former FDCP chairperson Tirso Cruz III and the current FDCP chairperson Jose Javier Reyes. The full statement issued by Tongol:

"Former Film Development Council of the Philippines chairperson Liza Diño has filed four complaints involving seventy-eight (78) counts of cyberlibel against Philippine Entertainment Portal (Pep.ph) editor-in-chief Jo-Ann Maglipon and Pep.Ph news editor and writer Rachelle Siazon over a series of libelous articles posted on the website of Pep.ph in 2023. 

"Also impleaded in the complaints are various personalities including actor and former FDCP chairperson Tirso Cruz III and the present chairperson of the FDCP, Jose Javier Reyes for their hand in the actions of Pep.ph against our client. 

"What is obvious is that our client was given by Pep.ph extraordinary special treatment by releasing not one but six articles to form a series of damaging articles in rapid succession. This created a sustained negative publicity against our client, which is inconsistent with a good faith effort to inform the public and more aligned with a strategy for character assassination. 

"This is not a work of a truly journalistic endeavor but a work often done by public relations instrumentalities. The Office of the City Prosecutor of Quezon City under the helm of Chief Prosecutor Vimar Barcellano will hear the complaints and decide the filing of information in court. 

"Our client is doing this in order to send a message that “the exercise of press freedom must be done consistent with good faith and reasonable care. This was clearly abandoned by Pep.ph when they wrote and published the subject articles," the statement read.