RELEVANT LAWS AND JURISPRUDENCE ON LIBEL

Definition:

Libel is defined udner Art. 353 of the Revised Penal Code as “a public and malicious imputation of a
crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstances
tending to cause the dishonor, discredit or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the
memory of one who is dead. (Brillante vs People G.R. Nos. 118757 & 121571, Oct. 19, 2004)

To be liable for libel, the following elements must be shown to exist:

(a) The allegation of a discretable act or condition concerning another

(b) Publication of the charge
(c) Identity of the persion defamed
(d) Existence of malice
- Malice is a term used to indicate that fact that the offender is prompted by personal ill-will or
spite and speaks not in response to duty, but merely to injure the reputation of the person
defamed; it implies an intention to do ulterior and unjustifiable harm. It is present when it is
shown that the author of the libelous remarks made such remarks with knowledge that it is fales
or with reckless disregard as to the truth or falsity thereof.
- No malice, no libel.

In order to prove that the statement falls within the purview of a qualifiedly privileged
communication under Art 354, No. 1, the following requisites must concur:

1. The person who made the communication had a legal, moral, or social duty to make the
communication, or at least, had an interest to protect, which interest may either be his own
or of the one to whom it is made;
2. The communication is addressed to an officer or a board, superior, having some interest or
duty in the matter, and who has the power to furnish the protection sought;
3. The statements in the communication are made in good faith and without malice.
- Incomplete privilege should be appreciated in his favor, especially considering the wide latitude
traditionally given to defamatory utterances against public officials in connection with or
relevant to their performance of official duties or against public figures in relation to matters of
public interst involving them. (Resolution of G.R. Nos. 118757 & 121571, Nov. 11, 2005)
- For an imputation to be libelous, the following requisites must concur: (a) it must be
defamatory; (b) it must be malicious; (c) it must be given publicity and (d) the victim must be
identifiable||| (Novicio v. Aggabao, G.R. No. 141332, [December 11, 2003], 463 PHIL 510-518)
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