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CEBU CITY, Philippines - The court denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Governor Gwendolyn Garcia on the dismissal of a P1-million damage suit she filed against broadcaster Leo Lastimosa at the Barili court.
Regional Trial Court Judge Leopoldo Cañete of Branch 60 stated in his order that the governor had not presented new issues to support her motion.
Judge Cañete said the governor merely repeated her arguments.
“Everything is but a reiteration of what had already been considered, evaluated and passed upon by the court,” stated Cañete’s order, dated March 24.
Last January, Judge Cañete dismissed the civil case for damages filed by Garcia for being in the wrong venue.
He further advised the governor to file the civil case in a Cebu City court.
Garcia, on February asked the judge to reconsider the dismissal of her P1-million damage suit against radio broadcaster and columnist Lastimosa.
Her lawyer Rory Jon Sepulveda said the damages Garcia sought to recover was not from Lastimosa’s civil liability arising from a crime but rather from the “abuse of right”.
But Judge Cañete said the law of specific application must prevail and not the law of general application.
“Art. 19 of the Civil Code and Rule 4 of 1997 of Rules on Civil Procedure relied upon by the plaintiff is merely a law of general application and law of procedure respectively,” he stated.
In his issued order, Judge Cañete gave weight to the ruling that the case should be filed in Cebu City where the libelous article was printed and first published (Article 360 of the Revised Penal Code).
The damage suit stemmed from a libel complaint Garcia filed over Lastimosa’s April 2007 column “Paugat ni Gwen” and his broadcast commentaries.
