MANILA, Philippines ? The Taytay provincial prosecutor has recommended the indictment of lawyer Argee Guevarra on libel charges in connection with his Facebook postings last year in which he allegedly defamed the practice of celebrity cosmetic doctor Vicki Belo.

The complaint stemmed from his status updates in July 2009 on the social networking site in which Guevarra referred to Belo?s clinic as a ?Frankenstein factory,? and called her ?Reyna ng Kaplastikan (queen of fakery).

He also called for a boycott of Belo?s company, the Belo Medical Group Inc. (BMGI), in protest of the alleged botched buttock augmentation procedure performed on a former patient, Josie Norcio, by one of her doctors.

Maria Ronatay, fourth assistant provincial prosecutor, said there was probable cause that libel was committed and that based on the evidence, Guevarra might be guilty of the offense and should be held for trial.

4 libel elements present

In a June 28 resolution, the prosecutor said she found all the elements of libel?defamation, malice, identification and publication?in the libel complaint filed by BMGI, represented by its general manager Agnes Ballesteros, against the lawyer.

Guevarra is the counsel of Norcio, who had accused Belo?s clinic of negligence in the procedure done on her buttocks that allegedly led to medical problems, requiring several hospital visits.

In the complaint, the BMGI cited at least 10 allegedly defamatory statements Guevarra had made against the company, one of which read: ?Argee Guevarra is preparing himself for a campaign against the Belo Medical Group for its criminal negligence which nearly killed Ms. Josie Norcio over a botched butt augmentation procedure.?

Guevarra added that he found out it was Belo herself who had marketed the procedure to Norcio and that the surgery was performed by doctors who were not licensed by the Philippine Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons.

In his counter affidavit, Guevarra said Facebook postings were not covered by libel laws, and that the Taytay prosecutor did not have jurisdiction over the case.

He also reasoned that the messages were a form of privileged communication as they were not defamatory and were only an exercise of his freedom of expression. He also noted that Belo and her clinic are public figures.

But in her resolution, Ronatay said the postings were defamatory as it imputed ?discreditable act or condition? not just to Belo but BMGI, and showed malice on the part of Guevarra when he called for a boycott of the clinic.