“Di na baleng mawala ang yaman, huwag lang ang ngalan.” (Translation: It’s OK to lose your wealth, but not your name.) — PCSO General Manager Mel A. Robles
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- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech and Digital News
QUEZON CITY (SDN) August 04, 2024 — It’s a known fact that public officials are targets of criticisms, and they should be able to weather them, especially constructive ones. But there’s a limit, obviously!
Journalists are clothed with freedom of expression and may, in their writings, especially columns, hit certain government officials about how they perform their job. But freedom of expression comes with responsibility!
Now, here come blogging in the digital era; while bloggers are not journalists, they have similarities.
Here’s how nimcj.org differentiates journalism and blogging:
It said that “blogging is more informal while journalism is a more formal style of writing. To write a blog, you may not need any collective evidence, evaluation of information, etc. But, to write an article in the field of journalism; you have to evaluate information, source of information, and authentication of the information.”
On the other hand, vloggers rely on visuals, as they record themselves talking, discussing topics and using YouTube mostly to ventilate their views. Vlogging is another form of blogging that harnesses video content instead of words.
So, what happens when a journalist or a blogger, or a vlogger, crosses the line, for certainly there must be a line when criticisms jump over the borders of being fair, objective, and constructive and become destructive, a weapon to destroy a public official, or a private person.
Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office General Manager Melquiades “Mel” A. Robles thinks a vlogger had crossed the lines.
“If work related, I don’t mind,” Robles tells SDN — SciTech & Digital News, referring to criticisms, when he met over 100 journalists and bloggers at a restaurant in Timog Avenue, Quezon City, Metro Manila.
So, as far as he is concerned, vlogger Claire Contreras, who goes by her vlogging name “Maharlika”, had crossed the lines. Perhaps, many times over.
Robles said that he and his wife Sherwil have decided recently to file charges against Contreras to defend their honor, name, reputation and dignity of their family, and “stop the suspect from continuously harassing and maligning them through her online vlog.”
Covered in the case the couple filed concerns “charges of defamation, defamation per se, and false light invasion of privacy against the vlogger before the Central District Court of California in the United States.
The PCSO official who at one point became emotional as he read his statement during his press conference on a Sunday, August 4, stressed that he resorted to the action to seek justice and defend his family’s name and honor in the face of the vlogger’s attacks.
He explained the reason why he was forced to act in filing the complaint, referencing the virtues and lessons in life his father taught him on the importance of defending one’s honor and reputation.
“Ang sabi ng tatay ko, hindi na baleng mawala ang yaman, huwag lang ang ngalan,” Robles
recalls in a press statement distributed during the media event.
(Translation: My father told me, it is OK to lose your wealth, but not your name.)
In the statement, Robles dubbed the suspect as allegedly the “queen of fake news” by scores of responsible social media users mainly because of her sustained yet unfounded criticisms in her program of the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos. Jr. and his officials.
To give context to the complaint he filed, Robles noted that for almost a year now his family has been bombarded by the suspect to an almost daily barrage of what he described as “vicious, unjustifiable, and blatantly false attacks through her YouTube Channel called Boldyak TV.”
The PCSO official, also the vice chairman of the Board, has been baffled by Contreras’s attacks.
“For reasons unknown to us, she continues to deliberately spread malicious lies against us,
while also calling me various names that were meant to deride, and denigrate my reputation,” Robles notes.
He added that not content with calling him names, the suspect has also made several
absolutely untrue and outlandish accusations against him such as stealing money from the
people, contract killing and even assisting terrorists.
Perhaps being a government official who would normally attracts brickbats from the public, the PCSO official confessed before members of the news media and blogging community gathered for the press conference that they did try keeping their peace for the longest time, “knowing fully well that all her accusations were nothing but pure lies and fabrications, that they were the products of her vile imagination and hateful heart.”
But enough is enough, Robles seemed to say, apparently stretching too far the limits of their patience.
So, they ultimately decided to seek redress from the court when they realized that the suspect
had no plans of stopping her unfounded assaults on their persons. It was when the suspect even included in “her malicious and unfounded allegations” his wife and even one of their minor children that Robles was particularly concerned.
“We are law-abiding citizens who did nothing to harm her in any way. It is our right therefore to
defend our names and reputations, especially my wife, who is a private citizen and has
dedicated herself to raising our family and in supporting charitable causes,” Robles emphasizes.
Robles even recalled the prior times Contreras was also sued by individuals whom she
accused of various unfounded allegations apparently to entice more viewers to follow her vlog.
He named Puey Quiñones, a Filipino international fashion designer, who previously filed defamation and a US$2-million damage suit against the suspect after she defamed him and ruined his reputation in the international fashion industry.
Quiñones, who is based in the United States, as cited in Robles’s press statement, accused him and First Lady Marie Louise “Liza” Araneta-Marcos of conning other people by producing counterfeit designs.
“I don’t understand why she involved the First Lady. Where (her) hate is coming from. Why is
she bad mouthing the First Couple,” Quiñones said, pointing out that he did not even know, met,
and befriended the suspect whom he described as “attack dog vlogger”.
“Before the vlog, (my) business is doing well. I have (fashion) shows in the Palace, US
institutions,” Quiñones recalled, adding that after Maharlika hit him and the First Lady, “projects
were cancelled, proposals were rejected, and it affected the factory he put up in the Philippines.
Aside from Robles and Quiñones, broadcaster Anthony “Ka Tunying” Taberna also filed a cyber
libel case against the suspect last year. The broadcaster filed the charges against her after she accused him of tax evasion while also maligning his sick daughter Zoey.
Taberna previously said that an arrest warrant was already issued by the Pampanga Regional Trial Court (RTC) against the suspect.
Meanwhile, Robles told SDN — SciTech & Digital News that he has not yet included seeking damages from Contreras, still thinking it over. (/)