Volume 4, Issue No. 42
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Wednesday, January 25, 2023
~ In December 2019, the Superior Court of Ontario, acting on a motion by Crown prosecutors, basically cleared Filipino businesswoman Lily Hammer of any wrongdoing. Yet three years to the day in 2022, the Balita tabloid reported otherwise in a hit piece written by Tess Cusipag, its publisher and editor. Last week, a notice of action for libel was served on her at her home office in Markham, Ontario.
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NOTICE OF ACTION FOR LIBEL SERVED LAST WEEK
Balita Tabloid, Editor Face New Libel Suit
Case Based on Regurgitated Article vs. Lily Hammer
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
“The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together." - William Shakespeare
TORONTO - Five weeks ago, I wrote an article based on a published report in Balita that had resurrected an old story from a few years ago headlined "BEWARE . . . Toronto scammers abound around us" by Tess Cusipag, the tabloid's publisher and editor, not knowing it would set off a quick reaction from one of the individuals named in her report. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/12/scavenging-dumpsters-is-not-way-to-look.html).
Today, January 25, I have been reliably informed that a libel notice has been served on Ms. Cusipag notifying her that she and Balita as a media company will be charged with libel for allegedly defaming businesswoman Liwayway Miranda, also known by her married name as Lily Hammer.
In her piece appearing in the paper's Dec. 16-31, 2022 issue, Ms. Cusipag identified the offended person as Liwayway Miranda Hammer who also goes by the name Lily Hammer. (Balita article at: https://www.balita.ca/beware-toronto-scammers-abound-around-us/).
A process server of the City of Toronto has signed affidavits showing he had delivered late afternoon on Friday, January 20, 2023, the notice as required by the Libel and Slander Act, R.S.O, 1990, c. L. 12 at her home office in the northeastern suburb of Markham.
Sought for comment early today, Ms. Cusipag has no immediate reaction as of this writing. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9ykwazA-WE).
In Ms. Cusipag's article, she claimed, without presenting proof, that Ms. Hammer is a "notorious alleged scammer who up to this time is still hunted by victims to serve court documents".
Ms. Cusipag also implicated a paralegal named Jun Saludares who she called "soon to be a practicing lawyer" and quoted him as purportedly saying that Ms. Hammer is "the summa cum laude of scammers in Toronto". (Background story of Saludares at: https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onlst/doc/2019/2019onlsth12/2019onlsth12.html).
By her unproven and undocumented account, Ms. Cusipag alleged, in her own words, that "Lily Hammer has hundreds (of victims) and we now lost counts and are still coming". She continued: "We calculated millions of dollars collected from applicants all over the world and are now asking for refunds and to get justice".
Her claims notwithstanding, none of the "hundreds" - either victims or applicants - has come forward to document their complaints, at least to this reporter's knowledge.
It's incomprehensible how Ms. Cusipag came up with such a huge amount in saying, in her words, "we (who is we?) calculated millions of dollars collected".
This allegation by Ms. Cusipag totally ignores the decision of the Superior Court of Ontario to drop all the cases against Ms. Hammer after Crown prosecutors had decided to withdraw the same ostensibly for lack of evidence. (Video and full story at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QprwiFQiLjs).
That decision on December 11, 2019, basically clears Ms. Hammer of the charges of human trafficking and misrepresentation Crown prosecutors had levied against her, which were based on the testimonies of workers who had escaped from their farm work. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JSfIOTN0uk and full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2019/12/cabal-of-mushroom-pickers-exposed-in.html)
Multiple news outlets, mainstream and community newspapers, online and print, including the Toronto Star, CityNews, Inquirer, and Filipino Web Channel, covered and reported the court proceedings on that day. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx7ZOhfQZ70).
Why Ms. Cusipag chose to pass over those news developments in 2019 and preferred regurgitating last month what has been proven to be an old yarn defies explanation.
I have warned in my December 20, 2022 article that what she republished in that issue of Balita could potentially expose her to a lawsuit. Well, my hunch appears to be coming true. (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).
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