Jesus Falcis addresses cyber libel charges

MANILA, Philippines – Jesus Falcis, the younger brother of Kris Aquino’s former business manager Nicko Falcis, addressed the cyber libel charges filed against him by the media mogul, saying that if he committed libel, it was only in defense of his brother, who he claims Aquino libelled first.

Aquino sued Nicko in October 2018 for 44 counts of unqualified theft, saying he misused a company-issued credit card for unauthorized personal expenses.

Falcis spoke out against Aquino to defend his brother, posting both veiled references and outright criticisms against Aquino on his social media accounts.

Aquino then sued Falcis for 9 counts of cyber libel in November 2018, for the alleged “malicious and defamatory statements” against her.

In her complaint affidavit submitted to the Department of Justice, Aquino detailed the allegedly libellous statements, which include posts that refer to a “Crazy Rich,” a “Rich Girl Gone Crazy ala Gone Girl,” and that outright call Aquino a liar and accuse her of weaving a “pa-victim” narrative.

At a press conference on January 9, Falcis discussed 3 of the 9 allegedly libellous statements he is being charged for.

‘Liar’

He referred to an Instagram post where he described Aquino has “Kris the liar,” because she said that Nicko made unauthorized charges on his company-issued card.

“Kris is indeed a liar. She says the credit card charges are unauthorized and for the personal benefit of my brother. How can that be when the credit card charges were for Cathay Paciic flights and Marco Polo hotel accommodations in Hong Kong of Kris Aquino’s 17-man entourage?” he said.

“A liar is someone who says something that is not true. It’s not true that the above charges are unauthorized. Therefore, Kris Aquino is a liar,” he added.

‘Crazy Rich’

He also discussed a twitter reply in which he refers to a certain “Crazy Rich” paying a “dilawang blogger” P25,000 a month.

Tanga walang dilawang politician nagpapakain sakin. And lalo na yung Crazy Rich Asian yuck di ko kelangan ng pera nya. Although, baka ang narinig mong bayarang dilawang blogger eh yung isa. Kung yun, tama ka. 25k a month mula kay Crazy Rich.

— Jesus Falcis (@jesusfalcis) November 15, 2018

Falcis said that he did not name anyone in that tweet, and that he could have been referring to any other “crazy rich” people.

He said that even if it was assumed that he was referring to Aquino, she herself admitted to shelling out money to boost posts to protect her brother, former president Noynoy Aquino, from trolls.

‘Pa-victim narrative’

Another supposedly libellous statement Falcis made was when he said that she played into a “pa-victim narrative” on an Instagram post.

Falcis said that she has been following this narrative even in her previous public break-ups with her former partners.

“She does follow a pa-victim narrative, from Joey Marquez to James Yap to now Nicko Falcis. She would allege that the guy victimized her and she gets sick or stressed from what they did,” he said.

Aquino revealed in October 2018 that she had chronic spontaneous urticaria, and in a Facebook live video earlier in January said that she was showing signs of having lupus.

In the video, Aquino aired her health woes, spoke about the difficulty of her condition, and said that she only wished for a few more years to live, just enough so she could see her youngest son Bimby turn 18.

On Falcis’ part, he said “I wish her 30 more years. I wish Kris Aquino more years, for her kids, and of course, for justice.”

“Kailangan mabuhay siya para makita niya na hindi lahat ng tao kaya niya i-bully (She needs to live so she can see that she can’t bully everyone),” he added.

Defending his brother

Falcis reiterated that any statements he made against Aquino were only done to protect his brother.

“Siya ang naunang nag-libel sa kuya ko. yung opinion ko, defense yun. In defense of family to eh. May ganung konsepto sa libel. May konsepto ng libel in defense of others,” he said.

(She libelled my brother first. My opinion, that’s defense. This is in defence of my family. There’s a concept like that in libel, there’s a concept of libel in defense of others)

He said that the cyber libel case was Aquino’s way of shutting him up.

“Yung cyber libel na sinampa niyang yan, gusto niya ako patahimikin. Yung kapatid niya pwede niya depensahan, ako hindi ko pwede depensahan yung kapatid ko?” Falcis said.

(She wants to shut me up with the cyber libel cases she filed. She can defend her brother, but I can’t defend mine?)

Falcis insisted that he and his brother will continue battling the cases against them.

“Don’t mess with the truth. Don’t mess with two gay brothers who have the truth on their side,” he said.

“Kung wala kaming katotohanan sa panig namin, matagal na kami lumuhod (if we didn’t have the truth on our side, we would have kneeled a long time ago).” – Rappler.com