A Quezon City court has officially cleared the criminal case against a private school teacher who shared a ‘VIP’ video on social media. The video shows a police officer saying Vice President Sara Duterte’s convoy is the reason behind the major traffic jam along Commonwealth Avenue.
In a four-page decision, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 104 ruled that teacher Janus Munar’s allegations of violating Article 154 of the Revised Penal Code did not constitute a crime.
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Additionally, the court also stated that while the complainant, Executive Master Sergeant Verdo Pantollano, had already filed an amended complaint, it was still defective.
“In this case, there is nothing in the criminal information which states that the accused published the video as news,” the court stated.
It also noted that the phrase “further propagate” in Pantollano’s amended complaint suffers from the same infirmities as the original information.
“Wherefore, premises considered, the Motion for Reconsideration of the Order dated June 7. 2024 is hereby granted. Accordingly, the amended information dated May 9, 2024, is quashed, and this case is dismissed,” the court concluded.
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Munar’s counsel, Lawyer Chel Diokno, considers the court ruling a lesson to authoritative figures who weaponize the law against regular citizens.
“Isang tagumpay ito ng katarungan at katotohanan laban sa pag-abuso sa kapangyarihan,” Diokno stated.
In related news, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) has denied that Duterte’s convoy caused the traffic jam in the ‘VIP’ video.
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