not surprisingly, social media are dredging up the libel case that president cory aquino filed vs. louie beltran in october 1987 and asking if maria ressa’s case is comparable. but surprisingly, and dismayingly, the video i happened to catch on my facebook newsfeed, courtesy of ONENews #RushHour, opened with this:
V.O. Rappler CEO Maria Ressa’s libel case may be the first of its kind against a Philippine president…
huh? ressa filed a libel case against the president? fake news ba ito o wishful thinking. lol. and here’s another booboo, a minute and some 40 seconds in.
V.O. The Court of Appeals however dismissed the case in 1995 acquitting Soliven and Beltran, but it was too late for Beltran who died a year after the case was dismissed. [bold mine]
HUH? too late indeed, but certainly not for the reason indicated. sloppy work, ONENews #RushHour! bakit nakakalusot ang blatant errors na ganyan? walang nag-e-edit ng scripts, walang nagmomonitor ng taping, walang fact-checking, masyado kasing madalian, rush nga?
well, hindi naman sila nag-iisa. also caught a phone interview (by some social media group) of a UP academic who said the cory case happened in 1989. maybe his source was the online copy of another UP prof’s 2003 column/essay that has mercifully since been corrected. at least #RushHour got that one right.
but watch the video anyway for cito beltran’s defense of his dad.
CITO BELTRAN. … the president herself pointed out that she could not possibly fit under the bed because there was no space under the bed. logic lang will say, apparently that she was misled, that my father was calling her a coward….
and read Hiding under the bed, my reaction back in 1995, published in ISYU, jarius bondoc’s all-opinion tabloid, soon after the case was dismissed on appeal. in fairness to cory.