MANILA, Philippines – Two weeks after filing a complaint against the Philippine Taekwondo Asssociation (PTA), two-time Olympian Donnie Geisler raised libel complaints against the national federation’s secretary-general, Rocky Samson. 

In his complaint-affidavit filed on Monday, July 6 at the Parañaque prosecutor’s office, Geisler was counseled that Samson committed 3 counts of libel and two counts of cyber libel for his statements made on Philstar and Radyo Pilipinas 2. 

“I just can’t take all these unfair actions towards me and it affects my reputation not only as a person but also as taekwondo coach to my students,” Geisler told Rappler. 

Samson told the media outlets that Geisler deceived national taekwondo jins Samuel Morrison and Arven Alcantara into participating in his free Saturday online class in the Donnie Geisler Taekwondo Training Center. 

According to Geisler, Samson made these libelous statements on 3 occasions and were done with malicious intent. 

Samson is also liable for two counts of cyber libel for the defamatory remarks of “the two (Morrison and Alcantara) were misled that they would only do a meet-and-greet and not a seminar and there was no money involved,” which was the quote published on the Philstar article. 

“But they (Morrision and Alcantara) knew what to do from the start. The purpose of it was to inspire the students and share a few techniques,” said Geisler.

According to Geisler, he explained to Morrison and Alcantara that they would receive a “token of appreciation” for their guesting. 

“He (Samson) mentioned that I made the national team members teach and the national team members were surprised by the honorarium given to them,” added the former national taekwondo jin, who saw action in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2004 Athens Olympics.

“My conversations with them were on file if they can receive a token of appreciation. We made that clear to them from the very beginning when they were invited and right after the Zoom [session].” 

On June 24, Geisler filed a complaint against PTA in the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) for creating barriers – mostly monopolies – that make it difficult for him to operate his school. 

The PCC is an independent organization aimed to promote fair market competition to help achieve a vibrant and inclusive economy, and advance consumer welfare. It handles anti-competitive issues and abuses.

The organization is still in the process of evaluating the documents Geisler filed before publicly releasing them.

Geisler’s actions come after national taekwondo jins Morrison and Alcantara had to be pardoned by PTA chief executive officer Sung Chon Hong for agreeing to guest in the Olympian’s online training session. – Rappler.com