Republic of the Philippines

Department of Justice
OFFICE OF THE CITY PROSECUTOR
General Santos City

ABC SERVICES INC. IS NO. 6789-0

as represented by its
President Juan Cruz,
Plaintiff,
FOR: VIOLATION OF ART.
-versus- 355 (LIBEL BY MEANS OF
WRITINGS OR SIMILAR
MEANS), ART. 353
JADE SANTOS, (DEFINITION OF LIBEL) IN
Defendant. RELATION TO SEC. 6 OF RA
NO. 10175 (CYBERCRIME
PREVENTION ACT OF 2012)

COMPLAINT-AFFIDAVIT

I, JUAN CRUZ, of legal age, with office address at Irineo

Santiago Boulevard, General Santos City hereby depose and state
that:

I am the President of ABC Services Inc. or “ASI” for brevity,

a corporation duly registered under existing Philippine laws and
with principal business address at Irineo Santiago Boulevard,
General Santos City. I am filing this complaint on behalf of, and as
a duly authorized representative of ASI as evidenced by a
Secretary’s Certificate dated 16 November 2017 and attached
hereto as Annex “A” and made integral part hereof.

1. After having duly sworn to in accordance with law, I do

hereby accuse JADE SANTOS, former client of ASI, Filipino,
married, and residing at Donato Quinto Sr. Street, General
Santos City where she may be served with summons, orders
and other processes of the court;

2. This complaint stems from the following factual antecedents:

3. On 25 April 2016, Complainant and Respondent entered into
a Contract for Services where the former agreed to provide
wedding planning services to the latter in the total amount of
P500,000.00;

A copy of the contract and its annexes is attached as Annex

“B” and made an integral part of this complaint.

4. Upon commencement of the contract between them,

respondent paid an initial P50,000.00 as downpayment, with
the remaining balance payable not later than three (3)
working days after the wedding, or 17 May 2017.

5. The wedding proceeded as planned and the complainant

provided the services agreed upon. However, the deadline
passed without the respondent making any payment nor
providing any explanation even for the failure to pay her
outstanding balance.

6. While the complainant reached out to the respondent several

times through telephone to remind the respondent of her
outstanding balance, the respondent ignored the
complainant’s reminders. Thus, on 15 July 2017, the
complainant sent the respondent a demand letter through
registered mail which again went unacknowledged.
complainant again sent a second demand letter on 15
September 2017 and a third one on 10 October 2017,
personally received by the respondent on 01 October 2017
and 10 October 2017 respectively.

7. Respondent’s obligation is due and demandable and

complainant is entitled to the entire amount of Four Hundred
Fifty Thousand Pesos (P450,000.00) plus legal interest.

8. On 01 October 2017, instead of paying her obligations, Jade

Santos posted on her blog and personal Facebook account
defamatory and false statement prompted with bad
intentions and unjustifiable motives, purposely to discredit,
insult, injure and ruin the good reputation of the complainant
to the public and to its clients, which is hereby quoted as
follows:

“Hay naku. You may be a big and popular

wedding events company, ABC Services Inc., but
you are one big epic FAIL! You handled my
wedding badly! Let me count the ways:
 a) Did not reply or text or return my missed
calls from the time of the professional
engagement of your services to the wedding
day itself;
b) Made me wait for 3 hours during one
coordination meeting;
c) Unprofessional behavior by its founder and
main man, JR, who refused to honor my
wishes as the client and unprofessional
behavior of his staff.
d) My pre-nup photo shoot was a disaster
because of you! Who in his right mind would
do a night time shoot?

So yeah, I hope my post puts you out of

business.”

9. The truth is that:

a. Former President Jaime Rodriguez, JR for brevity, as

her wedding coordinator, promptly returned her
missed calls or texted her if he could not call her
back right away;
b. Ms. Santos was constantly late to their meetings and
she was the one who was actually late for three (3)
hours;
c. Ms. Santos wanted JR to hire the Eraserheads to
perform at the wedding on a budget of P50,000.00
which she refused to increase. Thus, it was
impossible to provide her request since the talent fee
of the Eraserheads is at least P300,000.
d. JR’s staff have been nothing but courteous and
professional to Jade Santos.
e. The prenuptial shoot was not supposed to be a night
time shoot but because Jade Santos was so late,
there was little time left because she had two (2)
costume changes and a long make up session.
When JR offered to re-schedule, she did not want to
but blamed him for her being late.

10. Unfortunately, the false and malicious imputations of the

respondent on her Facebook account has gone viral and
generated 5,000 negative reactions (500 angry reactions,
200 thumbs up reactions and 300 sad reactions) and 1,500
comments.

11. A demand letter dated 15 October 2017 was sent to Jade

Santos to remove her post on Facebook which the latter
again
 ignored. A copy of the demand letter is annexed to this
Complaint as Annex “C”.

12. That by reason of the foregoing averments, the business

suffered serious financial losses due to cancellation of
already confirmed events. In addition to the significant
decrease of inquiries from prospect clients;

13. The enjoyment of a private reputation is as much a

constitutional right as the possession of life, liberty and
property. The law recognizes the value of such reputation
and imposes upon him who attacks it,by slanderous words
or libelous publications, the liability to make full
compensation of the damage done. (Worcester vs Ocampo,
22 Phil. 42);

14. As can be gleaned from the foregoing, the elements of libel

are present.

15. It is not the intention of the writer xxx.. or the understanding

of the ..xxx.. reader by which the actionable quality of the
words is to be determined, but the meaning that the words in
fact conveyed on the minds of persons of reasonable
understanding, discretion and candor, taking into
consideration the surrounding circumstances which were
known to the xxx.. reader. (People vs. Encarnacion, C.A. 48
O.G. 1817);

16. The statement posted by Santos on her Facebook account

and blog injured the good name and reputation of ASI, such
reputation cannot be earned by a single swing but is hardly
earned by years of making each and every event special and
memorable. The first element of libel that the statement must
be defamatory is obviously satisfied;

17. The second element of libel, that the imputation must be

made publicly is also present since Facebook is a free social
networking site which caters billions of active users
worldwide. Under the law, libel may be committed by means
of writing, printing or any other similar means;

18. The third element of libel which requires the presence of

malice is also present. Because every defamatory statement
is presumed malicious, even if it be true, if no good intention
and justifiable motive making it shown. This is known to be
malice in law, which is presumed to exist from the
defamatory imputation (Art. 354 par. 1);
19. The fourth element of libel, that the offended party is
identified, is also present. Since ABC Services Inc. and its
founder, Jaime “JR” Rodriguez is named therein;

20. Lastly, the fifth element of libel, that the imputation must
tend to cause the dishonor, discredit or contempt of the
person defamed, is present. Dishonor means disgrace,
shame or ignominy. Discredit means loss of credit or
reputation. Contempt is the state of being despised;

21. It is clear that the persons who read the posts of Santos will
naturally believe that ABC Services Inc. provides
unsatisfactory service towards the event of its clients. It also
suggests incompetence to the company as a whole.

22. Moreover, Section 6 of Republic Act No. 10175, also known

as the “Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012”, which provides
stiffer penalty to online libel states that all crimes defines and
penalized by the Revised Penal Code, as amended, and
special laws, if committed by, through and with the use of
information and communication technologies shall be
covered by the relevant provisions of RA 10175. Provided,
that the penalty to be imposed shall be one (1) degree
higher than that provided for by the Revised Penal Code, as
amended, and special laws, as the case may be;

23. Accordingly, I have caused the preparation and filing of this

affidavit to attest the truth of the foregoing matters and for
the purpose of criminally prosecuting Jade Santos for
violation of Art. 355 (Libel by means of writing and other
similar means) and Art. 353 (Definition of Libel) of the
Revised Penal Code in relation to Sec. 6 of RA No. 10175
(Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012).

24. I have nothing further to say.

JUAN CRUZ
Affiant
 VERIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION OF NON-
FORUM SHOPPING
I, Juan Cruz, of legal age, Filipino, single, after having
been duly sworn in accordance with law, hereby depose
and state that:
1. I am the President and duly authorized representative of
the complainant.
2. Upon instruction and with the authority of the
complainant, I caused the preparation and filing of the
foregoing complaint;
3. I have read the contents thereof and the facts stated
therein are true and correct of my personal knowledge
and/or on the basis of copies of documents and records
in my possession;
4. I have not commenced any other action or proceeding
involving the same issues in the Supreme Court, the
Court of Appeals, or any other tribunal or agency;
5. To the best of my knowledge and belief, no such action
or proceeding is pending in the Supreme Court, the
Court of Appeals, or any other tribunal or agency;
6. If I should learn that a similar action or proceeding has
been filed or is pending before the Supreme Court, the
Court of Appeals, or any other tribunal or agency, I
undertake to report that fact within five (5) days
therefrom to this Honorable Court.

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me on November 30,

2017 in General Santos City, the Affiant being personally
known to the undersigned.

JENNIFER REYES
Notary Public

CERTIFICATION
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT I HAVE PERSONALLY EXAMINED
THE AFFIANT AND I AM SATISFIED THAT HE VOLUNTARILY
EXECUTED AND UNDERSTOOD HIS AFFIDAVIT.

JENNIFER REYES
Prosecutor