City councilor indicted for cyberlibel, posts P576K bail

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

A member of Iloilo City’s Sangguniang Panglungsod on Thursday posted bail in Quezon City for cyberlibel charges filed against him by lone district Rep. Julienne Baronda over his alleged malicious social media posts.

On Thursday evening, Councilor Plaridel Nava confirmed that he personally appeared before Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 90 to post the P576,000 bail for 12 counts of cyberlibel under Article 355 of Act No. 3815 (Revised Penal Code) in relation to Section 4(c)(4) of Republic Act No. 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012).

The charges stemmed from the June 3, 2022 resolution approved by Quezon City Prosecutor Vimar Barcellano.

Baronda initially slapped 65 counts of cyberlibel on Nava, but Assistant City Prosecutor Joenel Competente recommended the filing of 12 counts in court which Barcellano approved.

The lady lawmaker also filed 15 counts of grave threats under Article 282 of Act No. 3815 against Nava, but these were also dismissed.

Baronda filed the charges against Nava over posts on his personal Facebook account from July 2019 to June 2020 where he allegedly made malicious imputations against the lawmaker.

The 12 charges cited posts on Nava’s social media page from November 5, 2019 to March 30, 2020, in which he called Baronda “brainless”, “ugly”, and “devil”, among other terms.

During the time these posts were made, Nava was a private citizen, having lost the 2019 vice-mayoral race.

In his Thursday evening post, the city councilor taunted Baronda, saying that he “cannot wait to see Baronda on the witness stand talking in [English].”

“I cannot discuss the merits of the case by virtue of the sub judice rule. However, I can only say that Baronda filed the complaint because according to her she felt humiliated and embarrassed after alleging that I called her ‘mango’ [stupid], ‘payos buli’ [small butt], ‘changing boyfriends more often’, ‘incompetent’ and etcetera,” Nava said in his Facebook post.

“In court, she has the burden to prove that these are all false and malicious without forgetting that truth is a valid and acceptable defense in libel,” he added.

Baronda’s camp has not responded to the prosecutor’s indictments or Nava’s latest pronouncements.