Elections Commissioner Rowena Guanzon filed unjust vexation and libel complaints against lawyer Ferdinand Topacio in Negros Occidental after the latter allegedly mocked Guanzon’s late mother on social media.

Guanzon alleged before a Bacolod court in July that Topacio caused her unjust vexation. She also filed a libel suit against him in her home city of Cadiz.

According to Guanzon, the complaints were triggered by Topacio’s comments on Facebook and Twitter, saying Guanzon was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. 

“My mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease, passed away at 95. F Topacio mocked me for having the same disease and vexed and annoyed me to no end through Twitter and FB,” Guanzon said in her tweet. 

While a Facebook search for the comments did not turn up results, a Twitter reply from April showed Topacio replying to a thread by Guanzon, saying she must have had “early onset alzheimer’s” for not recalling events in the murder case of beauty queen Ruby Rose Barrameda.

Then you must be having early onset Alzheimer’s. I was there several times.

— YesYesYo! (@YesYesYo13) April 26, 2020

Guanzon was the prosecutor in that case, while Topacio defended Lope Jimenez, who was acquitted of murder in 2019 by a Malabon court. 

Guanzon told Rappler she would release copies of her complaint when Topacio files his counter affidavit.

Rappler reached out to Topacio multiple times for his side on the vexation and libel suits filed against him, but has not yet received a reply as of this posting. – with a report from Marchel Espina/Rappler.com