MANILA, Philippines – Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV has filed libel and cyber libel complaints against former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, Apollo Quiboloy-owned Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), and vlogger Banat By (Byron Cristobal).

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Trillanes filed the complaints before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office on Tuesday, May 14. The former senator, one of the staunchest critics of former president Rodrigo Duterte, said he filed libel and cyber libel complaints against Roque and Banat By for accusing him of giving away Scarborough Shoal (Panatag Shoal) to China during backchannel talks in 2012.

“Despite my repeated explanations on what transpired during my backchannel talks, including official statements from incumbent government officials during Senate hearings conducted that we did not lose Scarborough, these pro-Duterte personalities continue to harp on this fake news to deflect blame from the Duterte administration,” Trillanes said.

In his complaint-affidavit, Trillanes said Roque made the allegations in a video clip posted on the former presidential spokesperson’s Facebook page. Banat By published Roque’s video and then posted his own video “expressing his concurrence with the sentiments of Roque.”

“Having posted the subject libelous remarks on his Facebook (Meta) and Tiktok accounts with settings visible to public and/or the entirety of the internet community, Respondent Roque’s posts were published far and wide and all over the world, including in Quezon City, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Office and the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City,” Trillanes said in his complaint.

In a statement, Roque said that by filing the complaints, Trillanes “has proved himself to be against freedom of expression.”

“He says he was defamed when his role as back door negotiator then resulted in our loss of Scarborough. But this is history. He was designated negotiator by then President Aquino, [he] took many many clandestine trips and talks with Chinese authorities and lo and behold, we lost our physical possession of Scarborough,” Roque said.

Aside from Roque and Banat By, Trillanes also filed libel and cyber libel complaints against a certain Guillerma Barrido and SMNI hosts and executives for publishing an interview where Barrido alleged that Trillanes “tried to convince her and purportedly paid her to be a fake witness against then President Duterte.”

The Trillanes camp said Barrido earlier filed a kidnapping complaint against the former senator, which was later dismissed by the justice department. Among the SMNI hosts and executives who face complaints are MJ Mondejar, Admar Vilando, Ludevija Ayang, and Marlon Rosete. – Rappler.com