By VEN REBO ARIGO
TAGBILARAN CITY – The City Prosecutor’s Office has found probable
cause to indict Willy Ramasola, a social media propagandist and member
of the Office of Governance Accountability and Review (OGAR), an office
created by Gov. Aris Aumentado through an executive order, for 24 counts
of cyber libel against Alfonso “Ae” Damalerio II, a former provincial
administrator of Bohol.
The charges stemmed from a series of Facebook posts made by Ramasola
from March 2022 to August 2023, wherein he accused Damalerio of being
corrupt, a scammer, and a dummy.
Ramasola also imputed upon Damalerio crimes of malversation, swindling,
and corruption during his tenure under former Bohol Governor Edgar M.
Chatto.
Damalerio, represented by Bohol’s most-sought-after lawyer, Atty. Lord
“Popot” Relampagos Marapao IV, filed the complaints against Ramasola
last month, alleging that the posts have cast aspersions on him and
damaged his reputation.
He stated that Ramasola mentioned his name “Ae”, used word play
“Dummy” and “Lerio” and posted photos of him to make his identity publicly
known.
He claimed that he felt violated and humiliated by the posts and that his
plea to Ramasola to stop making malicious imputations against him fell on
deaf ears.
Damalerio was supported by two witnesses, Catherine Joy M. Damalerio
and Niño Ephraim R. Gironella, who executed their respective affidavits in
support of the complaints.
Ramasola, on the other hand, denied any malicious intention in his posts
and maintained that he was only exercising his right to free speech and his
freedom of expression in his campaign for good governance and exposing
anomalies in the Province of Bohol.
He argued that of the 24 counts of libel filed by Damalerio, only eight could
sufficiently identify him as the subject of the posts.
He cited a Supreme Court ruling that acquitted a cyber libel accused for
failure to prove that the complainant was identified in the subject post.
He also contended that the matters discussed by him were in relation to the
acts performed by Damalerio when he was a public officer, in exercise of
his function as a government official.
Thus, Damalerio has the burden of proving the existence of malice in the
posts, Ramasola said.
He further questioned the credibility of the witnesses, alleging that they
were related or affiliated with Damalerio and did not cite any specific
evidence to prove that whenever he posts with the words TAE, DUMMY
LERIO, AE, or BAI, he is referring to Damalerio.
In denying that he was referring to Damalerio in his posts, Ramasola stated
that DUMMY LERIO may refer to any dummy while LERIO may refer to a
kind of flower called Amalerio.
AE could also be an abbreviation of American Eagle which is a clothing
brand while “bai” is a common street slang used in calling a person in the
Cebuano or Boholano language, Ramasola argued.
In his Reply-Affidavit, Damalerio cited several jurisprudence outlining the
elements of the crime of Libel and pointed out that the 24 Facebook posts
of Ramasola have all the elements of the crime charged.
Damalerio also emphasized that the words “Dummy Lerio”, “Tae” “Lerio”,
and “Dummy” are obviously directed or referred to him not only because of
conspicuous word play and phonetic resemblances of these words to
Damalerio, but also because of the linkage of the posts to Congressman
Edgar Chatto and him being the Provincial Administrator during his term as
Governor of Bohol.
Ramasola, meanwhile, further argued in his Rejoinder that he has no
personal grudge against Damalerio and no evidence can substantiate that
his posts were made because of personal grudge or political agenda.
Ramasola reiterated that he is only exposing anomalies and irregularities
reported against Damalerio while he was a senior public official and no
intention to incite hatred or contempt among his Facebook followers
against him.
After presenting both sides’s arguments, Assistant City Prosecutor Glena
Rose Alejado-Lim issued a resolution on September 1, 2023, finding
probable cause to charge Ramasola with 16 counts of cyber libel under
Section 4(c)4 of Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act
of 2012 in relation to Section 6 of the same law and Articles 353 and 355 of
the Revised Penal Code.
The resolution, approved by Tagbilaran City Prosecutor Bibiana Z.
Bautista, stated that Ramasola’s posts were clearly defamatory and
malicious and that he failed to substantiate his allegations against
Damalerio with credible evidence.
The resolution also noted that Ramasola’s posts were not privileged
communication as they were not made in good faith and without malice.
The resolution further stated that a simple perusal of each of the Facebook
postings convey that they impute to Damalerio the commission of criminal
acts like malversation, corruption and estafa.
The element of publication is also undisputed as all of the posts can be
viewed “publicly” or by anyone as Ramasola’s Facebook account is not
restricted or private.
Fiscal Alejado-Lim also rejected Ramasola’s defense that the element of
identifiability is missing in his posts.
She cited the testimonies of the witnesses for Damalerio who categorically
stated that aside from the phonetic resemblances of the words used,
Ramasola mentioned Damalerio’s name in some of his posts and uploaded
photos of him in his Facebook feed.
The resolution said that because of the constant posting of Ramasola
about Damalerio and associating him with Congressman Edgar Chatto and
his role as former Provincial Administrator of the latter, they were able to
come to the conclusion and identify Damalerio as the person being referred
to by Ramasola when he used the words “Dummy Lerio”, “Tae”, “AE”,
“Dummy” and “Bai” in his posts.
Moreover, Ramasola even admitted in his counter-affidavit that of the 24
counts of cyber libel filed against him, he explicitly mentioned Damalerio’s
name eight times, the fiscal said.
The resolution also explained that there are three ways to establish the
identity of the person defamed when he or she was not explicitly mentioned
in the writing: identification through intrinsic reference, identification through
description, and identification through extrinsic evidence.
Ramasola’s posts fall under these categories as they contain words,
descriptions, facts, and circumstances from which others reading them may
know that Damalerio was intended, or if he was pointed out by extraneous
circumstances such as the witnesses’ testimonies, the Prosecutor said.
The resolution also affirmed that the element of malice is established either
by presumption or by proof.
It said that if nothing but the defamatory imputation itself is laid before the
court, malice is presumed from it, and to overcome this presumption there
must be a showing of good intention and justifiable motive.
Ramasola failed to prove that his imputation is true and published with
good intention and justifiable motive, the Resolution pointed out.
The resolution also said that Ramasola’s posts are not exempted from the
presumption of malice as they are not private communication made by any
person to another in the performance of any legal, moral or social duty, nor
are they fair and true report made in good faith on any judicial, legislative or
other official proceedings which are not of confidential nature, or of any
statement, report or speech delivered in said proceedings, or of any other
act performed by public officers in the exercise of their functions.
According to the fiscal, to satisfy the element of identifiability, it must be
shown that at least a third person or a stranger was able to identify him as
the object of the defamatory statement.
The fiscal said that this was proven by the affidavits of the witnesses who
testified that they knew Damalerio personally and recognized him as the
subject of Ramasola’s posts.
On the other hand, the city fiscal has dismissed eight counts of cyber libel
against Ramasola for lack of probable cause.
The resolution said that in count 8, Ramasola was merely expressing his
amusement of a photograph which depicts Damalerio standing and wearing
an army uniform.
In count 12, the statement of Ramasola can be understood that he is
stating that a certain Marky Marcus Suarez is a “supporter” of
Congressman Chatto and works at the Governor’s Office.
Ramasola also mentioned that Marky Marcus Suarez is a JCI member
under JCI senators Ae Damalerio and Donald Sevilla.
The resolution said that no defamatory imputations can be deduced nor
can a link be established of any crime, which tends to dishonor or discredit
or put Damalerio in a bad light by reading such post.
In count 14, the resolution said that the element of identifiability is missing
as it merely states that a former Bohol Capitol official was identified by Niño
Jed Ramos as one of those behind the forex scam.
In count 16, the resolution said that Ramasola reposted an interview of
Atty. Dan Lim and as his comment, Ramasola merely conveyed what was
being said by Atty. Dan Lim in his interview.
In count 17, the resolution said that the element of identifiability is missing.
In count 20, the resolution said that no defamatory imputations can be
deduced nor can a link be established of any crime, which tends to
dishonor or discredit or put Damalerio in a bad light by reading such post.
In counts 19 and 22, the resolution said that Ramasola was only stating the
fact that there were cases filed against Damalerio and Atharra Primeland
Dev. Corp. before the Office of the City.
In the cases filed by Atharra against Ramasola, the regional trial court
issued last week four warrants of arrest on Ramasola.
Ramasola had posted on his Facebook account, revealing he already
reported to the Makati police and paid the bail for his temporary liberty.