Hontiveros files cyber libel case over videos

(UPDATE) SEN. Risa Hontiveros has filed a cyber libel complaint before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) seeking an investigation into the production and online circulation of videos featuring former Senate witness Michael Maurillo.

Hontiveros said that Maurillo may have been abducted and coerced, and she also targeted the operators of a social media page for a viral video containing false allegations against her.

The complaint names Maurillo and the unidentified administrators of the YouTube and Facebook page “Pagtanggol Valiente.”

It accuses them of orchestrating a disinformation campaign designed to discredit the senator and undermine a Senate probe into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) religious group led by Apollo Quiboloy.

“This is just the first step. We are determined to unmask the creators of these malicious videos and hold accountable those who amplified these lies online,” Hontiveros said in a press briefing after filing the complaint.

In the videos uploaded on June 24, Maurillo alleged that Hontiveros paid him P1 million to fabricate testimony against Quiboloy, former president Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Sara Duterte. He also claimed that the senator’s staff altered his affidavit to include unverified accusations of sexual abuse and human trafficking, and that he was provided shelter in her condominium as part of the supposed scheme.

Hontiveros vehemently denied the accusations, calling the videos “fabricated” and “orchestrated psychological warfare.”

She said that Maurillo voluntarily approached her office in December 2023 to testify about abuses within KOJC and that he appeared under the alias “Peme” in a Senate hearing in February 2024. She suggested that his apparent retraction may have been made under duress.

The complaint accuses at least a dozen individuals and entities of cyber libel under the Revised Penal Code and the Cybercrime Prevention Act. Among those named are bloggers and online personalities Krizette Chu, Jay Sonza, Sass Rogando Sasot, Trixie Cruz-Angeles and Banat By, as well as the operators of the YouTube and Facebook page Pagtanggol Valiente, which was created just one day after Maurillo’s last known communications with her office.

Hontiveros said that the video — an 18-minute recording that has since amassed nearly 100,000 views on YouTube and over 370,000 views on Facebook — meets all the legal criteria for cyber libel: it contains defamatory content, was published with malicious intent, reached a wide audience and clearly targets a specific public official.

She also hinted that the complaint includes unnamed government officials — possibly sitting senators — whom she suspects of playing a role in the disinformation effort.

“Public officials should be open to criticism, but deliberate falsehoods designed to intimidate witnesses and undermine institutions cannot be tolerated,” she said.

Hontiveros requested the NBI Cybercrime Division to preserve the video as evidence, trace the identities of those behind the Pagtanggol Valiente page and identify other individuals who helped spread the video online. She also asked the NBI to assist in locating Maurillo, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

According to Hontiveros, Maurillo sent urgent messages to her staff on June 22 and 23, claiming he had been kidnapped by KOJC members and was being held at Glory Mountain in Davao City. The senator said her office immediately alerted the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Davao, who acknowledged the report, but no updates have since been provided.

“If Maurillo was indeed kidnapped and is in danger, the PNP must act swiftly to secure him,” she said. “He may be a key witness in exposing a coordinated campaign of fake news, witness tampering and abuse.”