Fernandez eyes libel suit vs Cojuangco

The Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee may just get into a court battle.

PSC commissioner Mon Fernandez said he was mulling libel charges against POC chief Peping Cojuangco after the latter branded the PBA legend a “game-fixer.”

“It’s a typical response from a tradpol (traditional politician),” Fernandez said in a message to the Inquirer. Fernandez also forwarded the opinion of his lawyer, Ramsey Quijano, on a possible libel case against Cojuangco.

“[Peping] is mudslinging to cover up his unaccounted funds,” said Fernandez, saying Cojuangco has at least P65 million in unaccounted funds.

“In relation to the article where Mr. Cojuangco accused Commissioner Mon Fernandez that he is a game fixer, certainly, such statement constitutes public and malicious imputation of a crime, whether it be real or imaginary,” Fernandez’ lawyer wrote. “Under our law, such defamatory imputation is presumed to be malicious.”

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