Richard Gutierrez seeks P25M libel suit vs PEP

Richard Gutierrez, one of GMA Network's mainstay actors, filed a P25-million libel suit against website Philippine Entertainment Portal (pep.ph )on April 13 at the Makati Prosecutors Office.

The libel suit stemmed from a PEP article dated March 29, which claimed Gutierrez had a gun-toting argument with another actor, Michael Flores, during director Mark Reyes' birthday party on March 28 in the Oceana Restaurant, gmanews.tv reported.

Both Gutierrez and Flores denied the allegations.

According to a press conference by PEP editor-in-chief Jo-Ann Q. Maglipon last March 31, Guitterez's mother and talent manager Anabelle Rama called her up regarding the article the day it was uploaded on PEP. Maglipon then explained that the article was never meant for posting since it lacked investigation, though they have two witnesses to verify the incident.

The article was deleted a few hours after uploading.

"What happened was essentially a failure in editorial procedure. While the top editors understood exactly what the site would not do, people at the bottom may not have understood the instruction very well,” Maglipon explained. “So an article was made and the editor-in-charge finished it and uploaded it without having checked with the top editors on what to do, considering it was a very sensitive article. This was really stunning.”

Maglipon called a press conference in order to publicly apologize for the “inadvertent uploading” of the article. Maglipon added that Rama agreed not to pursue a libel suit once the apology was made.

Tarnished reputation

Gutierrez, in an interview with gmanews.tv, said he is anxious about the possible repercussions the article might bring to his credibility and his future projects.

"Yung nangyaring insidente parang nagkaroon ng false journalism hindi totoo yung mga sinabi dun. Naging headline pa ang pangalan ko at napakasama dahil iniingatan ko ang pangalan ko, iniingatan ko ang pangalan ng pamilya ko,” Gutierrez said.

Despite Maglipon's public apology, Rama wasn't placated and decided to push through with the complaint.

“Itutuloy ko ang demanda ko sa kanila kasi unang-una, hindi naman clear ang apology ni Joan Maglipon,” Rama said in an interview with SNN: Showbiz Ngayon quoted on abscbn-news.com. “Ang gusto ko direct to the point [na] walang incident na nangyari kaya ko sila idedemanda, atsaka ang PEP, atsaka lahat ng taong involved para lumabas ‘yong sinasabi nilang dalawang witness.”

Aside from Maglipon, the other respondents of the case include managing editor Karen Pagsolingan and staff writer Ferdinand Godinez.

Cease and desist

On April 14, a day after filing the libel suit, Rama issued a cease-and-desist letter to PEP. The letter was for the management and staff of PEP to “immediately...CEASE AND DESIST from publishing any further articles and/or comments about Richard Gutierrez.”

The letter was brought on by the 600-plus comments on the PEP story “Richard Gutierrez files P25-million libel case against PEP” posted 24 hours after its upload.

“We find it unusual that an article uploaded less than 24 hours ago would have significantly more comments than all the other 'HOT' (a tag for the most commented articles on PEP) items, and exceeded in that short period the number of comments for 9 out of the 10 most popular articles for the week,” the letter said, adding that the Gutierrez family is “suspicious” of the writers of the comments.

As of this posting, the PEP article regarding the cease-and-desist letter has 1,412 comments from various “PEPsters” (registered users of PEP) reacting to its implication of fake posters on the website.

“I don’t know about you guys, but this just screams ignorance of the world of new media and the digital age. Is the camp of Rama suggesting that PEP had their own writers spam negative comments against Richard Gutierrez?” Carlo Ople, on his blog Newmedia.com.ph, asked.

Ople further added that the online community values their right to free speech heavily.

“Yes, you can stop PEP from publishing articles about you (though I doubt they actually can), but you cannot stop every single blogger, forum, commenter, and online Filipino from talking about it in their own respective websites,” he said.

According to holly_heroes, “Walang fake dito sa mga taong nagco-comment. We Filipinos abroad are hungry and missing our hometown, so naturally we read and make comments in this website. I am from Los Angeles, ca 90028 this is not fraud. Marami talagang avid reader ang PEP.”

Maglipon explained the culture of PEP and clarified that there are no fake posters on PEP.

The 'Streisand effect'

Perhaps the buzz which ensued during the PEP vs Richard Gutierrez incident, especially after the cease-and-desist letter, can be best explained by the “Streisand effect”—a term used to describe the phenomenon where an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information backfires, causing the information to be widely publicized.

“To Rivera Santos and Maranan (counsels for Rama), you are now in the act of violating my rights of 'Free Speech.' I can say whatever I want to say, neither you or your roman legions can do anything about it. I dare you to sue me,” gapoboy posted on PEP regarding the cease-and-desist letter.

On Rama's side, however, chika123 said, “As a mother, ipaglalaban talaga nya yung mga anak nya. retraction lang naman ang hinihingi. bakit hindi pa ibigay kung hindi naman talaga nangyari. kung kasalan ng PEP, face the consequences. nagkamali kayo.”

Fans of Gutierrrez jumped to defend his side, as said by jon on grabeh.com. “Mga walang kwentang PEP na yan, nagbabalita ng walang katutuhanan, sino pang maniniwala niyan sa kanila, talagang kawawa si richard, dapat lang silang mag sorry, para alam ng lahat na walang katutuhanan ang sinulat nila sa PEP.”

On the other hand, taRq summed up his/her sentiments by saying, “e an0 nman kung magsulat PEP ng gan0n, public imAge siya!”

Photo: "Richard Gutierrez” by Franz Lopez taken from http://evilseeks.multiply.com/photos/album/236/Richard_Gutierrez. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-ND 3.0.

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