MANILA, Philippines—The Belo Medical Group Inc. (BMGI) has filed a libel complaint against a lawyer for allegedly making defamatory statements against the company and its medical director, Dr. Vicki Belo, through Facebook, an online social networking site.
Represented by its general manager, Agnes Ballesteros, BMGI filed the complaint last month against lawyer Argee Guevarra with the Taytay, Rizal, prosecutor’s office over his “deliberate and malicious intent to destroy the reputation of BMGI and Belo’s practice.”
In the complaint, Ballesteros accused Guevarra of launching a vindictive attack on the firm and Belo through the comments he posted in his Facebook account.
According to her, Guevarra called for a boycott of Belo clinics, adding that the lawyer also referred to Belo as incompetent and even claimed that she was bribing people to cover up complaints arising from botched cosmetic procedures conducted by BMGI doctors.
“The statements that [the acts] of Dr. Belo and BMGI were unlawful, incompetent and all other vile remarks were intended to cause dishonor [to], discredit or contempt [for] the person defamed,” Ballesteros said.
She added that Guevarra’s tirades against the company and Belo stemmed from an alleged botched butt enhancement surgery conducted on one of the lawyer’s clients, Josie Norcio, by a BMGI doctor.
Guevarra overstepped the bounds of legitimate advocacy and representation by publishing libelous remarks on Facebook, Ballesteros said in her complaint.
Reached for comment, Guevarra said he welcomed the filing of the complaint to draw public attention to the danger posed by cosmetic surgery clinics which, according to him, were being operated by unqualified practitioners.
“I welcome the libel suit as an opportunity to ring the alarm of the Department of Health against the proliferation of such colorum clinics which is destroying the country’s medical tourism,” he said.
He added that he was ready to defend himself all the way to the Supreme Court in order to elicit jurisprudence regarding Internet-based libel cases.
