Paolo Duterte files libel raps vs Matibag, GMA over cash delivery claims

MANILA, Philippines — Davao City first district Rep. Paolo Duterte on Friday filed libel and cyber libel complaints against National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag, dismissed police officer Rodulfo Gracioso Jr., and GMA Network officials and reporters over the former cop’s “cash delivery” allegations against him.

Duterte filed the complaints at around 11 a.m. Friday at the Davao City Prosecutor’s Office.

READ: NBI: 2 ‘cash houses’ in Gracioso claim ‘validated’

“Kung susuriin natin yung mga nangyari mula sa Sinumpaang Salaysay ni Gracioso noong September 14 hanggang sa pinalabas ang interview nya at ni Atty. Matibag ng GMA noong September 25 ay makikita natin na mayroong malisya na siraan ang aming cliente at ang pamilya Duterte sa agarang paglabas ng mga paratang ni Gracioso, na sinabing 99% true ni Atty. Matibag, dahil hindi naman kilala ni Cong. Paolo si Gracioso,” Duterte’s counsel, Atty. Peter Paul Danao said in a statement on Friday.

(If we examine what happened from Gracioso’s sworn statement on September 14 until the airing of his interview with Atty. Matibag on GMA on September 25, we will see that there was malice to defame our client and the Duterte family in the immediate release of Gracioso’s allegations, which Atty. Matibag said were 99% true, because Cong. Paolo did not know Gracioso.)

The counsel criticized that even though the NBI’s investigation into Gracioso’s allegations is still ongoing, Matibag already said in a recent interview that the former police officer’s lie detector test showed that his statements were 99 percent true.

READ: Gracioso lie detector test result: No deception

He said the bureau allegedly “not even given our client a chance to respond and they have already given GMA a copy of Gracioso’s testimony.”

The counsel also alleged that GMA did not verify Gracioso’s background when they reported his “cash delivery” claims.

“Alam ng GMA na natanggal sa PNP si Gracioso at hindi man lang sila nag-ingat na suriin mabuti ang paratang nya, at higit sa lahat na hindi man lang kinuha ng GMA ang panig ng aming kliyente,” the counsel also claimed in the statement.

(GMA knew that Gracioso was fired from the PNP and they did not even bother to carefully examine his allegations, and most of all is that GMA did not even take our client’s side.)

Matibag earlier said the bureau issued an invitation letter to Duterte to air his side on Gracioso’s allegations, but he only supposedly sent a lawyer to send a one-page letter questioning the bureau’s jurisdiction to investigate.

The NBI director and the network have yet to issue statements regarding Duterte’s complaint.

Gracioso is alleging that he delivered large sums of cash to the congressman, as well as Vice President Sara Duterte and former President Rodrigo Duterte starting 2018 upon the instructions of his former boss, former House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.

The other implicated individuals have since denied the allegations. /jpv