Filipino Web Magazine : April 2025

Monday, 28 April 2025

Balita 'Wronged' Businesswoman Liwayway Miranda, Says Ontario Superior Court in a Decision That Awards Her $250,000

Volume 6, Issue No. 47

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of Romar Media Canada, The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

Our latest as of Monday, April 28, 2025

~ The purported "crusade" by Balita publisher/editor Teresita "Tess" Cusipag to rid the Filipino community of scammers had turned into a personal campaign vilifying her archenemy, the businesswoman Liwayway Miranda. The latter filed filed a defamation suit and after 26 months of wrangling at the Ontario Superior Court, the former lost the legal battle. Justice R. Lee Akazaki found her and the tabloid liable for defamation and awarded Ms. Miranda $250,000 in damages.

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BALITA'S LEGACY OF DEFEAT

Cusipag's Animus Leads to Downfall

Reviving Old Comment v. Ms. Miranda Proved Fatal

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Envy has been, is, and shall be, the destruction of many. What is there, that Envy hath not defamed, or Malice left undefiled? Truly, no good thing." - Pythagoras

TORONTO - Had she been circumspect and kept her animus in control, Teresita "Tess" Cusipag, publisher/editor of Balita, could have avoided the humiliating rebuke and the accompanying quarter-of-a-million dollar penalty imposed by Ontario Superior Court.

Her impulse got in the way again to cloud her better judgment. And it wasn't the first time either that emotions took over reason, thus, one loss followed another and another until her vindictiveness carved a legacy of defeat.

It's bizarre for a non-journalist to be penalized three times and jailed once for criminal contempt after losing defamation cases by three separate individuals, the latest by businesswoman Liwayway Miranda.

Well, she had a bad call when she salvaged the original 2020 article slamming Ms. Miranda and republished it in December 2022 to make it current, giving Ms. Miranda a new opportunity that she had lost earlier because of libel law limitation to file defamation charges against Ms. Cusipag.

In fact, I had warned in an article that Ms. Cusipag was exposing herself to a potential lawsuit by republishing her unfounded accusations. Well, that hunch has been proven true, now!

If Ms. Cusipag had just stayed quiet after her 2020 attack, she probably would not be worrying forking $250,000 to Ms. Miranda to satisfy the judgment against her.

The incident showed how little she understood her role as publisher/editor of Balita. Ontario Superior Court Justice R. Lee Akazaki said: "Apart from her evidence that she took over Balita from her husband, Ms. Cusipag did not provide any evidence of any training or background in journalism."

That's the judge bursting her bubble. It's like saying why are you in the newspaper business when you don't know anything about journalism, much less its perils, and risk being hailed to court for publishing what basically amounted to gossip as what had happened lately.

Writing has limitations just as much as the exercise of the right of free expression. And those limitations are embodied in the laws governing defamation. In Ontario, the Libel and Slander Act covers those issues.

Not to add to her pain of losing, but her understanding - if there's one at all - seemed to rest on what's told by some of her ignorant and incompetent friends who are out there to butter her up. I knew that from experience while writing for the paper.

The lawyers who handled her (our, because I was also a defendant) defense in the first two cases were recommended by friends. On what basis, I still don't know. After our loss, Ms. Cusipag admitted without naming names, thus: "I made a mistake of fighting by hiring the wrong person to defend us . . . "

True, that fact proved fatal to our defense, and as a result, she had to recompense the plaintiffs for defaming them in the amount nearly $500,000 each, for an aggregate of almost a million dollars.

I initially thought she had learned her lesson when she vowed in late January 2023 to fight Ms. Miranda's lawsuit, promising to sign up, to quote her own words, "not just lawyers anymore" but "good ones instead."

But the trial came and went during the last two years and no lawyers (plural) who are "good ones" ever surfaced to defend Ms. Cusipag in court.

Who showed up was the person she was promoting in Balita who, she said, was "a well-known paralegal . . . and "soon to be a practicing lawyer Jun Saludares."

So, it appeared that Ms. Cusipag was just being hyperbolic at that time. Justice Akazaki had this to say: "I gleaned from Ms. Cusipag’s evidence and from her words in the 2020 article that Mr. Saludares was one of the 'Elite Crusaders' and that she ascribed faith or credibility in his professional judgment as a paralegal and candidate for the bar."

Friday, 25 April 2025

Because of Her Ordeal, Balita Editor Whines and Blames

Volume 6, Issue No. 46

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Friday, April 25, 2025

~ Balita publisher/editor Teresita "Tess" Cusipag went ballistic the moment she learned she lost in the defamation case filed against her by businesswoman Lily Miranda. That means paying up a total of $250,000 in damages for her egregious lies. As reality sinks in, she puts the blame for her ordeal on this writer, and forgets that it was her lawyer, Dominador "Jun" Saludares, who tried and failed in this latest legal fight.

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LAWSUIT LOSS MEANS PAYING UP $250,000

Cusipag Lays Blame Not On Her Lawyer

Liwayway Miranda's Suit Could Cripple Balita Tabloid

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Hell begins with a grumbling mood, always complaining, always blaming others." - C.S. Lewis

TORONTO - Within minutes of the release of the Ontario Superior Court decision finding her and her paper liable for defamation, Teresita "Tess" Cusipag, publisher/editor of Balita tabloid, sent an email blaming this reporter for her latest ordeal.

She was unleashing her anger, after all the loss of a quarter of a million dollars in a lawsuit would further deplete what's left of her vaunted millionaire status (if that is true). Remember that she previously lost almost $1 million in damages in two other lawsuits.

It's clear to me that she's looking for someone to whine against, and despite the fact that I'd been out of Balita (I reported and wrote a column there for seven years ending in July 2019), she continues to hammer me like I'm a punching bag.

She conveniently forgets that it's her lawyer, Dominador "Jun" Saludares, who defended her mindless postings in court and is responsible for her downfall.

In late January 2023, Ms. Cusipag boasted that she would fight the lawsuit brought against her by Liwayway Miranda and hire "not just lawyers anymore" but "good ones instead," ostensibly alluding to previous losses.

So it's safe to say that in her judgment, her categorization of "good ones" included Saludares and no other simply because it was him who fought her legal battle against Ms. Miranda.

Ms. Cusipag writes without regard for punctuations (and she's supposed to be an editor). She says in an email: "the news tht lily won the case vs balita tht you provoked for reason only u know. How I was being punished for unknown reasons. How I lost all my resources because of lawsuits tht you created. Am going to appeal this but I just hope tht you are not gloating after all I was able to help you too wen you were starting life here in Canada"

Look at her language: "Case I provoked". "Punished for unknown reasons." "Lawsuits I created." I don't know if she's out of her mind or just in complete denial. Is age catching up?

But reading through the decision by Ontario Superior Court Justice R. Lee Akazaki, it appears that Ms. Cusipag was dishonest and lied about it. (Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-lies-and-fantastic-tales-of-eino.html).

She had just been slapped with a $250,000 penalty in a libel suit by Ms. Miranda over her unfounded allegation that she was a "scammer hunted by victims" whom she allegedly owed "millions of dollars."

Nothing could be further from the truth. Ms. Cusipag's assertions, originally published in Balita in 2020 and reposted on social media in 2022, were fatuous lies, so egregious that they offend the court's sense of decency.

Ms. Miranda's counsel - Mohsen Seddigh and Maria Arabella Robles - had stated that starting in February 2020, Ms. Cusipag and Balita published articles and statements "falsely accusing - expressly and by implication - Ms. Miranda of fraud, scams, swindling, racketeering, 'faked investing, being a 'Scammer', credit card theft, forgery, blackmail, threats, providing licensed services without licenses, etc.".

The trial had unraveled that Ms. Cusipag had relied on her lawyer, Dominador "Jun" Saludares, for the reposts she did claiming that Ms. Miranda, in his own words, was the "summa cum laude" of "scammers." The judge said it was an "inflammatory mischaracterization."

The description was picked up by Ms. Cusipag twice, once in 2020, and again on December 18, 2022 in Balita. In addition, the court noted that she also accused Ms. Miranda of distributing “reject ham and sausages to the people in violation of the Ministry of Health instructions” and declaring, in all-caps: “JUST GET LAID TO EARN MONEY.”

"It turned out," said the court, "that the only source of her information was the paralegal, Mr. Saludares – the same Mr. Saludares who, now a lawyer, represented her and Balita at trial."

By way of background, Saludares was cited by The Law Society of Ontario for professional misconduct in 2019. The summary decision reads: (Full text at: https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onlst/doc/2019/2019onlsth12/2019onlsth12.html)

"SALUDARES – Professional Misconduct – Findings and Penalty – Facilitating Fraud, Failing to Comply with Client Verification Requirements, Acting Outside Scope – The Paralegal entered an agreed statement of facts and admitted that he committed professional misconduct as alleged when he accepted a retainer to collect a purported debt of over $500,000 in circumstances where he ought to have known that the client was engaged in fraud – Joint penalty submission for three-month suspension and $5,000 in costs with two years to pay accepted as reasonable – Although there had been significant neglect of duty and a substantial fraud in the amount of $434,764, the respondent was a new licensee, remorseful and had immediately reported the matter to police upon realizing the cheques were fraudulent and fully co-operated with the Law Society."

In the decision rendered on Wednesday, April 23, Justice R. Lee Akazaki stated that "Ms. Cusipag considered his (Saludares') words as licence to invent her own story of hundreds of recruits seeking to recover millions of dollars from Ms. Miranda, who took them 'for a ride'."

"Beyond the beliefs they held," the judge wrote, "the defendants tendered no evidence to justify the characterization of the plaintiff as the perpetrator of a scam, or any similar scheme to defraud the workers they recruited."

In awarding Ms. Miranda $150,000 in general damages and $100,000 in punitive damages, the judge explained that the fine "is meant to act as a deterrent to the defendant and to others from acting in this manner."

He wrote: "It is important to emphasize that punitive damages should only be awarded in those circumstances where the combined award of general and aggravated damages would be insufficient to achieve the goal of punishment and deterrence." (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).

Wednesday, 23 April 2025

Lily Miranda Is Vindicated: Balita, Cusipag Liable for Defamation

Volume 6, Issue No. 45

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Wednesday, April 23, 2025

~ For the third time in a row, Balita tabloid and its publisher/editor Teresita "Tess" Cusipag were found liable for defamation in the libel case filed in 2023 by businesswoman Lily Miranda. Ontario Superior Court Justice R. Lee Akazaki awarded general and punitive damages to Ms. Miranda as "means by which the jury or judge expresses its outrage at the egregious conduct of the defendant (Balita and Ms. Cusipag)."

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MS. LIWAYWAY MIRANDA IS VINDICATED

Balita, Cusipag Liable for Defamation

The Superior Court Today Issued Its Decision

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

TORONTO - In a scathing rebuke of its lack of "standard care of a reasonable journalist," the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found Balita tabloid and its publisher, Teresita Cusipag, liable for defaming businesswoman Liwayway Miranda, also known as Lily Hammer.

The debacle meant another huge loss - the third out of five cases - for the non-journalist publisher/editor and her picture-laden entertainment sheet, once referred to as "Toronto's largest Filipino newspaper."

"Balita misused its position as a popular publication in the Filipino community as a bully pulpit to inflict harm to Ms. Miranda’s reputation," Justice R. Lee Akazaki said in his decision released on Wednesday, April 23.

The judgment was the culmination of 26 months of litigation between the two parties that had been sparked by Ms. Cusipag's continuous assertions on social media impugning Ms. Miranda's character and reputation.

The judge awarded Ms. Miranda $150,000 in general damages and $100,000 in punitive damages.

He explained: "Punitive damages may be awarded in situations where the defendant's misconduct is so malicious, oppressive and high-handed that it offends the court's sense of decency.

"Punitive damages bear no relation to what the plaintiff should receive by way of compensation. Their aim is not to compensate the plaintiff, but rather to punish the defendant. It is the means by which the jury or judge expresses its outrage at the egregious conduct of the defendant."

Justice Akazaki noted Ms. Cusipag's lack of journalism credentials. He said: "Apart from her evidence that she took over Balita from her husband, Ms. Cusipag did not provide any evidence of any training or background in journalism."

"The words written and published by Ms. Cusipag in Balita unquestionably defamed Ms. Miranda," the judge wrote. (Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/02/balita-tabloid-editor-in-new-libel-suit.html).

"The defendants (Ms. Cusipag and Balita) are liable to pay Ms. Miranda damages for the effect on her reputation and punitive damages for defying the libel notices and intentionally carrying on the campaign to inflict further harm," the judge stated.

Justice Akazaki also cited Ms. Cusipag's lawyer, Jun Saludares, for putting himself in an "awkward position" as "Ms. Cusipag's sole source" of the original defamatory statement.

"I gleaned from Ms. Cusipag’s evidence and from her words in the 2020 article that Mr. Saludares was one of the 'Elite Crusaders' and that she ascribed faith or credibility in his professional judgment as a paralegal and candidate for the bar. (Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/01/who-in-toronto-is-real-swindler.html).

"Since Ms. Cusipag admitted that she had never read the Small Claims Court judgments, her defence that she had verified the report of Ms. Miranda as a fraudster “from several court decisions” turned out wholly unfounded."

The judge continued: "In addition to reporting Mr. Saludares’ remarks without any attempt to verify them, Ms. Cusipag considered his words as licence to invent her own story of hundreds of recruits seeking to recover millions of dollars from Ms. Miranda, who took them 'for a ride.'

Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle Could Be the Next Pope

Volume 6, Issue No. 44

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Wednesday, April 23, 2025

~ The eyes of the world are focused on who would succeed the recently-deceased Pope Francis as head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. In the pool of potential candidates compiled by mainstream media, one Filipino stands out - Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, the 67-year-old former Archbishop of Manila and now in the Vatican as Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization.

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SEARCH FOR A SUCCESSOR TO POPE FRANCIS

Cardinal Tagle in the Running

The Philippine-Born Prelate Is Among the Candidates

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“The candidate was required to prepare himself by confession, fasting, and passing the night in prayer.” - Horatio Alger

TORONTO - "Dominus est" translates to "God is our leader." That's the motto etched on the coat of arms of Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle.

The 67-year-old prelate is among a dozen or so cardinals listed as "possible candidates" to succeed Pope Francis as head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics and sovereign of the Vatican City State.

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina of parents of Italian descent, had died of a stroke and heart failure on Easter Monday, April 21, at his residence at the Vatican. He was 88.