Amalia’s son gears for battle
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 07:45:00 02/16/2008
GERALD Stevens, a son of actress Amalia Fuentes who was sued by a member of the Aznar family for posting “defamatory messages” in the Internet, yesterday said he would question why the case was filed in Cebu City.
Stevens, 24, said that even if he has yet to receive a copy of the complaint by Angelica Aznar-Sierra, the case should be filed in Manila since Sierra owns a condo unit in Pasig.
He said he has documents to prove that Sierra owns a condo unit there.
“We have everything to fight her (Sierra),” Stevens told Cebu Daily News.
Sierra's lawyers filed one count of libel and seven counts of unjust vexation at the Cebu City Prosecutors Office on Feb.13. She is seeking P1.5 million in damages.
Her lawyers also filed a petition for injunction to stop Stevens from sending “malicious” and “vulgar” messages to her through the Internet.
Stevens had described Sierra in his messages as the “third party” who caused the break-up of his parents' marriage.
Sierra, whose family owns the Southwestern University in Cebu said his allegations were “false.”
Stevens said he is confident that the case against him will be dismissed.
He said that in the United States, no case prospers if evidence is based on material taken from the Internet or from blog sites.
“Nobody really reads blog sites,” he said.
Stevens said he quit law school at the Ateneo de Manila University because he was affected by his parents' breakup.
Amalia Fuentes, in a text message to CDN said she also cannot comment until she has read the complaint.
She said her estranged husband, Joey Stevens and Sierra are not residents of Cebu. “She (Sierra) caused the breakup of my family and now the son Joey loved (Gerald) is next. She has hurt my son. What more does she want from us?”
Sierra countered that the conduct of Stevens “specifically his obscene, derogatory, and offensive e-mail messages and violent actions” directed at her and her children have maligned her good name and reputation as well as caused her much pain.
In one of Steven's messages to Sierra, Steven challenged Sierra to view his blog in his Friendster account entitled “My first blog ever: One Reason to Stay in School.”
In his blog, Stevens attached a letter purportedly written by Sierra to his father and wrote that the only reason he was putting up the blog was to expose Sierra's involvement in his parents' breakup. Sierra said Steven's blog was “designed solely to humiliate a ridicule” her as well as to malign her name and reputation.
Stevens also denied that he harassed Sierra when he visited her condo.
He said Sierra lives on the 14th floor. He was only able to enter the lobby at the condo. Reporter Nilda Gallo
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