Defamation in the Philippines

Bad spelling or typo as you sat with your drink in hand? Dry gin.

 

Art. 361 of Act 3815 covers this. It says that if it appears that matter charged as libelous is true,

AND

it was published with good motives AND for justifiable ends,

The defendant shall be acquitted.

It does seem that if one’s MOTIVE for complaining about bad treatment might be considered “good” if you convinced the court that you were trying to protect consumers in our community from bad treatment at an establishment; this “might” be considered both a good motive and, alerting consumers of possible bad treatment might be considered a justifiable end.

There seems to be a reasonable case for acquittal.

But it sure would be a pain to have to go to court and 1) Make sure it “appears” to the court that your accusation is truthful (the plaintiff might lie and it could be your word against his) and 2) show that you did it merely to warn consumers against sharing the same bad experience but not out of anger or revenge (even if the end was justifiable; both motive and ends must be good). Was there a bit of frustration or anger in the post?

IMHO, I would prefer to fight more important battles in my remaining years than to fight perhaps a long court battle, enriching my attorneys along the way.


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There is the presumption of malice in the law. So if it's established that you spoke the truth, they will then look to malice. If you make a statement with recognizable malice, tagging at the end you are just making people aware for the public good won't fly, as I think finn covered. Also, defamation can be brought by the fiscal, and not the person defamed, so I wonder if that is what is meant by Philippines courts cannot charge non-resident defendants with criminal defamation. There are expat vloggers bringing cases against other vloggers, and there are cases on record where expats defamed their ex wives, so it seems that cite may be too vague.

 

If this was illigal, why are we able to write comments on Lazada etc?

 

I think this happens a lot in this country---dissatisfied people voicing out their frustrations about services and a lot of other stuffs. If expressing one's dissatisfaction is a crime, then where is this country heading to? Services and products are improved when these companies or schools listen to the rants of their customers. It's called feedback, negative or good. This is the only way that we can better our lot in this so-called "developing country." And we need people who will speak their minds and not be intimidated by the higher ups or the powerful because they have more money. And anyway, the cost of going to court is extravagant----it costs a lot of time, money, effort, energy, stress, and more. Amicable settlement is preferred---companies that are in the service industry MUST LISTEN to what their customers or clients are saying. Going to court is one futile exercise and it will further give the disgruntled companies more bad raps.

 

And more guns. :(