Volume 5, Issue No. 34
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Friday, May 10, 2024
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LILY HAMMER v. TESS CUSIPAG
Balita Loses Defamation Suit
Cusipag Tells Court She's Broke, Can't Pay Damages
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
“It's easy to talk, but to don't give a fuck and to don't get offended is damn hard." ―
TORONTO - A Superior Court judge has found Balita publisher/editor Teresita "Tess" Cusipag liable for defaming businesswoman Liwayway Miranda aka Lily Hammer, the Filipino Web Magazine has learned.
The verdict, handed down in mid-February, has not been publicly announced by either of the two litigants. This reporter has sat on the story for months, hoping the tabloid would come through with its vow of transparency.
Informed sources said Ms. Cusipag has instructed her lawyer, Dominador "Jun" Saludares, to appeal, arguing that she's broke and unable to pay the damages sought by Ms. Miranda.
The court has set March 2025 to hear and finalize its decision.
Reached for comment, Ms. Cusipag said: "I dont (sic) know what you are talking about but I sent to to (sic) the lawyer and you can communicate with him." (Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9ykwazA-WE)
This reporter continued to press for an explanation, saying: "If what you say here is true, I can only assume your lawyer withheld valuable information from you. How can you NOT know what I'm talking about in my questions related to the defamation case against you?"
Ms. Cusipag did not respond. Neither her lawyer.
For her part, Ms. Miranda said the judge has asked them to negotiate the amount they're able to pay her, which was the reason for the March 2025 hearing. (Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx7ZOhfQZ70)
"They only offered that they will pay my legal fees, expenses I accrued in this trial, promised to remove all the articles in BALITA about me and promised not to write any defamatory articles about me . . . which 100% I did not agree," Ms. Miranda explained.
"They refused to pay the general damages and punitive damages," she added. In an earlier filing, Ms. Miranda asked $150,000 for general damages and $100,000 for punitive, exemplary and aggravated damages.
(Related story: Balita Fights Back, Asks Court to Throw Out 5th Libel Suit
This is the fifth defamation case filed against Ms. Cusipag and her tabloid. In four of the cases (disclosure: this reporter was also a defendant), she lost two. In one, the judge cited her for criminal contempt and sentenced her to 21 days in prison. She got off after serving 13 days.
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Years after Crown prosecutors had dropped all charges against Ms. Miranda, and announced by the Ontario Superior Court on December 11, 2019, Ms. Cusipag continued to attack Ms. Miranda in Balita and in her Facebook posts.
In one posting, she said: " . . . another notorious alleged scammer is Liwayway Miranda Hammer who up to this time is still hunted by victims to serve court documents."
She also implicated her lawyer, writing that: "Liwayway was branded as the summa cum laude of scammers in Toronto according to paralegal, soon to be a practicing lawyer Jun Saludares."
Saludares had been a paralegal since January 2014 before being called to the Bar in January 2023. He now practices immigration law and real estate. (Copyright 2024. All Rights Reserved).
When will this end...money, money, money! Casinos..where are you?...lol! - Ores Ting, Scarborough
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