Supreme Court affirmed the libel conviction of Cristy Fermin

In 1995, an article about Annabelle Rama's alleged cases in US court was published in Gossip magazine owned by Cristy Fermin.

The lower court convicted Cristy Fermin for libel.

Now the news said that the Supreme Court affirmed the libel conviction on showbiz columnist and ordered her to pay P806,000 to couple Anabelle Rama and Eddie Gutierrez instead of serving the jail term slapped on her by a lower court.

Fermin had originally been sentenced to a jail term of from three months and 11 days of arresto mayor as minimum, to one year, eight months and 21 days of prision correccional as maximum.

The Supreme Court however ordered the columnist to pay the hefty fine instead of serving the sentence.

Fermin argued that being the publisher of the tabloid Gossip, she had no direct participation in the June 14, 1995 article about Rama and her alleged case before a US court.

Fermin added that the article, in its entirety is not defamatory.

But the high court pointed out that Fermin’s admission she is also the chairperson and president of the tabloid proved she had full control over the publication of articles.


Source: Inquirer

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