Inquirer: Lustre not employed in company

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Daily Inquirer said on Thursday that veteran journalist Philip Lustre is not an employee, after lawyer Manases Carpio, husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, placed the company’s Makati office as Lustre’s “last known address.”

Lustre was arrested last Saturday on a cyberlibel charge without having received a complaint beforehand because the subpoenas had been sent to the wrong address.

“Veteran journalist Philip Lustre is not connected with the Inquirer, either as an employee or columnist. He contributed a few commentaries that were published in the Inquirer Opinion section, like many unsolicited articles and letters to the editor published to provide readers with a variety of viewpoints. As such, the Inquirer does not have Lustre’s personal information, including his residential or business address,” the Inquirer said in a statement.

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READ: Philip Lustre feels unsafe in Davao; seeks transfer of cyberlibel case

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‘In good faith’

In a separate statement also on Thursday, lawyer Neil Abayon, Carpio’s spokesperson, said his client used the Inquirer address “in good faith.”

“The Inquirer’s business address was furnished in good faith as the respondent’s last known ascertainable professional address. The subsequent claim that the address is not his residence does not, by itself, invalidate the complainant’s reasonable reliance on that address,” Abayon said.

Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon said Lustre was deprived of due process due to the service of a warrant without the respondent’s prior knowledge of a complaint.

Not publicly available

Abayon, however, explained that the complainant should not be expected to provide Lustre’s residential address when it is not publicly available.

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“Where the respondent’s residential address cannot be ascertained despite diligent efforts, the complainant may reasonably rely on a publicly ascertainable professional address supported by verifiable information connecting the respondent to that location,” he wrote in Carpio’s defense.

“The complainant cannot reasonably be expected to furnish a residential address that is neither publicly disclosed nor otherwise ascertainable despite diligent efforts,” he added.

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Carpio sued the 72-year-old journalist and Duterte critic over a Facebook post alleging he paid millions to 18 individuals who claimed they delivered cash-filled suitcases from former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co to other public figures, including politicians.