News Briefs

ABS-CBN wins P1.4-B suit vs online pirates

Media giant ABS-CBN Corp. has won a suit against online pirates to the tune of P1.4 billion. ABS-CBN, which launched a crackdown on the illegal distribution of its movies and television shows, said in a statement that a US Federal District in Florida ordered 27 site operators to pay the company $1 million each in damages, or a total of $27 million. The sites include dramaofw.ch, vidco.su, pinoyflixtv.com, pinoytvlovershd.com, and tambayand.com. ABS-CBN said the lawsuit was filed in December and targeted over three dozen domain names. “The sites in question are streaming portals that offer access to Filipino content in the US and abroad. These sites attract visitors from all over the world, including the United States, where they target people of Filipino origin,” ABS-CBN said. —Miguel R. Camus

Sandiganbayan affirms Roderick Paulate suspension

The Sandiganbayan Seventh Division has denied Quezon City Councilor Roderick Paulate’s motion for reconsideration of his preventive suspension. In a March 29 resolution, the antigraft court upheld its earlier decision to suspend Paulate, even as he faces trial over his cases involving the alleged hiring of 30 ghost employees. Paulate faces one count of graft and multiple counts of falsification of public documents together with his driver and liaison officer Vicente Bajamunde. Paulate allegedly defrauded the government from July to November 2010  of some P1.109 million, representing the salaries paid to the 30 ghost employees, until the scheme was discovered by state auditors. Paulate, who is running for vice mayor,  insinuated that the suspension order could be used by his opponents to hinder his candidacy. But the antigraft court maintained that Paulate’s suspension was purely on the basis of the law.—Patricia Denise M. Chiu

LTFRB exec turns tables on accuser

A high-ranking official of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) who was suspended for 90 days over allegations of corruption turned the tables on his accuser whom he is poised to file perjury charges against for saying he demanded a P4.6 million in exchange for a franchise.  LTFRB executive director Samuel Jardin, also the head of the board’s preaccreditation committee that vets franchise applications, said in a letter to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) that Michelle Sapangila’s affidavit accusing him of bribery was “fabricated, a complete falsehood.” Jardin was suspended effective on Thursday by the DOTr over the said allegations, which also implicated LTFRB chair Martin Delgra. Sapangila claimed that Jardin demanded  P4.6 million—of which P1.5 million was to go to Delgra—in exchange for the issuance of a route measured capacity, a requirement for public utility vehicle (PUV) franchise applications.  Jardin pointed out that Sapangila was not a registered PUV operator nor does she have a pending application for a franchise.—Krixia Subingsubing

TV anchor appeals dismissal of libel suit vs colleagues

ABS-CBN anchor Gretchen Fullido on Thursday filed motions for reconsideration before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office (QCPO), 10 days after the court dismissed the libel charges she filed against her colleagues. Fullido’s legal counsel, Eldrige Marvin Aceron, said the filing of the motions seeks to revive his client’s cases against ABS-CBN journalist Ces Drilon,  news reporter Marie Lozano, and  news executive Venancio Borromeo, whom Fullido accused in October of damaging her reputation for commenting that she’s just using her sexual harassment complaints against an ABS-CBN executive to leverage her job status. On March 22,  QCPO dismissed the libel charges against Drilon, Lozano and Borromeo, saying their statements were “not defamatory and malicious.” But Fullido’s camp maintained that the statements made by the accused were not made in the spirit of “moral and social duty.” —Mariejo S. Ramos

Malabon VM Sandoval: I didn’t laugh during poll campaign

Malabon Vice Mayor Jeannie Sandoval on Friday denied that she was laughing when President Duterte commented against Bishop Pablo Virgilio David and his mother during the PDP-Laban campaign rally in Barangay Potrero on Tuesday. In a statement, she clarified  that when the President made a snide remark against David’s mother, she was checking her cell phone. It was, however, not captured by the footage that circulated online.  Sandoval emphasized that she had “no bad intentions and do not mean to offend anyone.” —Mariejo S. Ramos