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THE Department of Justice may revive the libel case
filed by lady employees of the state-run Philippine Amusement and
Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and the Office of the First Gentleman against
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz.
This developed after the 20
complainants on the case filed before the Justice department a
petition for review. Their case was earlier dismissed by Manila
Assistant City Prosecutor Jessica Ong.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez
said Wednesday the case is now being studied, on whether it will be
elevated to a court or denied.
Records show the case was filed
in July 2004 by the 20 women, 17 from Pagcor and three from the
Office of the First Gentleman, after Cruz refused to heed their call
for an apology over his earlier statements branding them as
“GROs” or guest relation officers for Mr. Arroyo’s birthday
celebration in Malacañang.
In a three-page statement
bearing the name of the Allado, Mendoza & Associates law office,
the lady employees denied everything that the bishop said.
They said it was not true that
they were carefully made up and dressed well, and instructed to
remove their wedding rings if they had any. On top of those, they
denied they were brought to Malacañang and “made to act as
nothing more than pitiful GROs.”
The archbishop, for his part,
maintained that he had not said anything libelous against the women.
“What I actually said was the
ladies were made up like GROs by the management of Pagcor and it is
not in their work description that they serve for occasions like
that,” Cruz explained in Filipino.
The women in the case worked as
clerks, food attendants, marketing officers and data control clerks.
Cruz, a staunch administration
critic and anti-gambling advocate, recently criticized the
Pagcor’s plan to put a $15-billion gambling center at the
reclamation area in Pasay City.
--William B. Depasupil
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