1. Borjal vs.

Court of Appeals
- ISSUE: Whether Borjas intemperate or deprecatory utterances
appear removes such speech from the protection of free speech,
-

and opens him to liability for libel

FACTS:
o Arturo Borjal (President), Maximo Soliven (Publisher and Chairman
of EdBoard) of Philippines Today, Inc. (PTI) = now: PhilSTAR Daily,
Inc.
o Borjal also runs a column in the paper (The Philippine Star) called
the Jaywalker
o Borjal also ran a PR firm, AA Borjal Associates
o Francisco Wenceslao served as a technical adviser to Congressman
Fabian Sison (then Chairman of the House of Rep. sub-committee on
Industrial Policy)
o September 1988, the sub-committee decided to organize the First
Natl Conference on Land Transportation (FNCLT) where private
sector in transport industry are invited to participate to solve
transportation crisis (i.e. draft omnibus bill, etc.)
o Wenceslao: The conference (estimated cost = P1,815,000.00) was
to be funded through solicitations from various sponsors ; he was
eventually elected Executive director
o Borjal published on numerous dates between May to July 1989 a
series of articles alleging anomalous activities of a conference and
an organizer (both were blind-itemed)
o Wenceslao read and reacted to the article negatively: challenged
Borjal to retract from his writing position at Star if he was able to
prove him wrong
o Wenceslao also tried to prove that Borjal was using his column as
a hammer to get clients to his PR firm
o Wenceslao filed a complaint with the National Press Club (NPC)
against Borjal for unethical conduct which Borjal was able to
challenge successfully
o Wenceslao then filed a case for libel against Borjal and
Soliven which was eventually dismissed for lack of evidence
sustained by SC and Office of the President
o Wenceslao changed tactics and filed a civil case of libel and order
both journalists to pay P100,000 (actual damages) in addition to
P200,00 (moral damages)
o Court of Appeals affirmed decision but changed the monetary
amounts
HELD:
o Libel, either identified explicitly OR identifiable enough by a third
party WHICH HAD NOT BEEN ESTABLISHED IN THIS CASE

o
o

It was Wenceslaos fault that his identity was revealed to the

public
Every citizen has the right to enjoy a good name and
reputation, but Borjal has not violated that right nor abused
his press freedom.