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Prosecutor dismisses Dennis Uy cyberlibel complaint vs ABS-CBN

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ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Udenna Corp Chairman and CEO Dennis Uy at the sidelines of the forum attended by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed at the Makati, Shangri-La, March 7, 2019. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File " src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/tvpatrol/06/28/20190307-business-dennis-uy-forum-industry-makati-trade-udenna-corp-jc-2919.jpg"/><figcaption>Udenna Corp Chairman and CEO Dennis Uy at the sidelines of the forum attended by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed at the Makati, Shangri-La, March 7, 2019. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — The Davao City Office of the Prosecutor has dismissed for lack of probable cause the cyberlibel complaints filed by Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy against ABS-CBN Corp. over its news reports. </p><p>Uy earlier claimed that the news organization&#x27;s stories on the Malampaya deal, which quoted the graft complaint against him, were libelous. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/26/21/malampaya-sale-to-udenna-most-incredible-crony-deal-in-history-complainant">Malampaya sale to Udenna ‘most incredible crony’ deal in history, says graft complainant</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/10/19/21/cusi-dennis-uy-face-graft-complaint-over-malampaya-sale">Cusi, Dennis Uy face graft complaint over sale of Chevron&#x27;s stake in Malampaya</a></li></ul><p>But the prosecutor&#x27;s office said a perusal of the articles showed they &quot;were not defamatory.&quot; </p><p>&quot;When viewed in its entirety and plain meaning, the articles do not impute a finding that impeaches the virtue, credit, and reputation of complainant Uy,&quot; the prosecutor said in a resolution dated May 5 and received on June 20. </p><p>&quot;Notably, the writer in the subject articles merely presented a fair and true report of events by quoting certain publicly available documents and information from the graft complaint filed against the complainant; proceedings before the Senate; and several public meetings or webinars held,&quot; it continued. </p><p>The resolution added that the articles were &quot;bereft of any personal comments or remarks made by the writer himself out from the said publicly available information.&quot; </p><p>Uy &quot;failed to specify which part of the subject articles were based on pure speculations and conjectures of the writer,&quot; said the prosecutor. </p><p>Last week, outgoing Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi withdrew his libel and cyberlibel complaints against ABS-CBN Corp. and 6 other news organizations over their stories on the Malampaya deal. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/24/22/cusi-withdraws-cyberlibel-raps-vs-abs-cbn-other-news-orgs">Cusi withdraws libel, cyberlibel complaints vs ABS-CBN, other news orgs</a></li></ul><p>Uy&#x27;s complaint had named as respondents ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Katigbak, ABS-CBN News Digital chief and Executive Editor Lynda Jumilla, and journalist Anjo Bagaoisan. </p><p>ABS-CBN News&#x27; articles were based on the filing of a graft complaint before the Ombudsman against Cusi, Uy and several others over the sale of Chevron’s stake in the Malampaya project to the Davao-based businessman’s Udenna Corp. </p><p>The complainants, Balgamel de Belen Domingo, Rodel Rodis, and Loida Nicolas Lewis, alleged that anomalies in the Malampaya Project resulted in &quot;a minimum of over P21 to 42 billion in total losses to the government.”</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/04/22/fair-true-accurate-reports-abs-cbn-execs-journalist-refute-dennis-uys-cyber-libel-raps ">&#x27;Fair, true, accurate reports&#x27;: ABS-CBN execs, journalist refute Dennis Uy’s cyber libel raps</a></li></ul><p>The story also mentioned Cusi’s earlier defense of the Malampaya deal wherein he denied it was a “midnight deal”, as well as Udenna’s statement that the transaction was above board. </p><p>ABS-CBN&#x27;s executives, in their counter-affidavit, said there was nothing defamatory or malicious in the article that its website published regarding the graft complaint. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/18/22/not-defamatory-not-malicious-abs-cbn-execs-defend-cusi-malampaya-article">Not defamatory, not malicious: ABS-CBN execs defend Cusi Malampaya article</a></li></ul><div><em>news.abs-cbn.com is the official news website of ABS-CBN Corp.</em></div><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVES: </strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1853096" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The Davao City Office of the Prosecutor dismissed for lack of probable cause the cyberlibel complaints filed by businessman Dennis Uy against ABS-CBN.