Hagedorn sues lawyer for libel
Former Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Former Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn has filed libel charges against a lawyer who had accused him of not disclosing all his assets as required by law when he was in office.
Hagedorn, who was mayor for two decades and who lost a senatorial bid last May, sued lawyer Berteni Causing for accusing him of failing to declare 59 real properties in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) from 2004 to 2012.
All public officials are mandated by law to truthfully reveal their financial standing in their SALN.
Clear minds
Causing reportedly made the accusation in an interview on a local radio program.
“I will not rest until this matter is clarified and cleared in the minds of the public, especially the people of Puerto Princesa,” Hagedorn said.
“The interview has exposed me to public hatred, contempt and ridicule, by imputing to me the offense of perjury and falsification,” he said in his complaint.
Hagedorn said the attachments to his SALN had contained the details on all his properties.
No declaration
“He [Causing] only used the front part [of the SALN] where we summarized the four classes of real properties, but clearly the SALN referred to a two-page attachment entitled Certification (Property Holdings) that was filed in the Records Division of the Puerto Princesa BIR… detailed all the properties he claimed were not declared in my SALN,” said Hagedorn.
The former mayor asked for P5 million in “moral damages” from Causing.
In his SALN, Hagedorn had declared commercial and agricultural properties worth P102 million; a residential house and lot valued at P10 million; another residential property worth P10 million, and a commercial property costing P41 million.
Hagedorn had also attached a certification issued by the City Assessor of Puerto Princesa covering 61 pieces of real properties referred to in his SALN.
He called the accusation part a “smear campaign” by his critics.
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