Jagna mayor Joseph Rañola files 94 counts of cyberlibel raps against a person who is known to be a security agency executive and ran for town councilor in Jagna town but lost.
Rañola, accompanied by his counsel, lawyer Florendo Columnas, appeared before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday morning, Feb. 17, 2021, to formally file the charges.
According to the complaint filed by the mayor, a certain Seto Fuentes Bajamonde is being accused of 94 counts of cyberlibel. Bajamonde ran for a seat in the Sangguniang Bayan of Jagna in 2019, but lost.
Rañola, in the complaint affidavit, said that allegedly the accused constantly used the latter’s Facebook account to spread fake news about the former’s administration.
“The Facebook posts made by Seto [Bajamonde] contained malicious imputations with bad intentions and unjustifiable motives, purposely to malign, dishonor, discredit, insult, defame, slander and assassinate my character and good reputation to the public as well as to my constituents,” Rañola averred.
Rañola said the alleged malicious imputations made by the accused caused injury to his reputation as the insinuations posted on social media are already “below the belt”.
“As the current Mayor of the Municipality of Jagna, it is my duty and responsibility to bring peace and development of our town for the people of Jagna and to be a good example to the community. Unfortunately however, Seto [Bajamonde] has tainted my reputation with innumerable malicious imputations of corruption without any proof or evidence on Facebook social media. As a public figure, I am bombarded with various personal criticisms from people around the world, particularly from my fellow Jagnaanons arising from the defamatory and libelous post of Seto. Sad to say, that such criticisms are below the belt or ad hominem attacks and not on my performance as a public servant,” the mayor explained in his complaint affidavit.
The mayor accused Bajamonde of libel alleging that the posts made against the mayor by the latter are tainted with “malice”.
It can be recalled that Bajamonde was arrested on Aug. 11, 2020 in barangay Villa Libertad, El Nido Palawan by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Judge Samuel Biliran of Regional Trial Court (RTC) branch 50 based in Loay for 10 counts of cyberlibel filed by another complainant, Jagna councilor Anthony Aniscal.
He was temporarily released after more than one week of being detained at the El Nido Palawan police station after he posted cash bailbond amounting to P350,000.
Originally, the bailbond was pegged at P600,000 or P60,000 for each count.
However, Bajamonde filed an urgent motion before Judge Biliran to reduce the bail to P35,000 each count and the motion was granted by the court.