One day after Richard Gutierrez filed a P25-million libel suit against PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal), his mother and talent manager Annabelle Rama, thru the Rivera Santos & Maranan Law Offices, sent this entertainment website a "cease and desist" letter.
According to Wikipedia, "cease and desist [also known as C & D], is an order or request to halt an activity, or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization. The term is used in two different contexts. A cease-and-desist order can be issued by a judge or government authority, and has a well-defined legal meaning. In contrast, a cease-and-desist letter can be sent by anyone, although typically [it is] drafted by a lawyer."
Dated April 14, 2009, the C & D reached the PEP office at the Cybergate Tower III, Pioneer Street, Mandaluyong City, at around 4 p.m. on the same day. It was addressed to Jo-Ann Q. Maglipon, editor-in-chief of PEP, who was not in the premises at the time.
Annabelle Rama's legal counsel asked PEP to "CEASE AND DESIST from publishing any further articles and/or comments about Richard Gutierrez."
We are publishing the letter in its complete form – in part, to give a context to our response to it, which appears in Part II of this article; and in greater part, to give PEPsters, whose comments are addressed by the letter, an unedited look at it. The letter follows:
ATTN: Ms. Jo-Ann Q. Maglipon, Editor-in-Chief
RE : Articles and Comments about Richard Gutierrez
Our client, ANNABELLE RAMA-GUTIERREZ, the mother and talent manager of actor Richard Gutierrez, has referred to us for appropriate action the Philippine Entertainment Portal's ("PEP") continuing grossly negligent act of uploading a barrage of negative comments about her son. The relevant factual circumstances are detailed below.
At 7:12 p.m. of 13 April 2009, PEP uploaded an article by Mr. Jojo Gabinete with the heading "Richard Gutierrez files P25-million libel case against PEP." Less than twenty-four (24) hours after the uploading, or as of 2:14 p.m. today, six hundred eight (608) alleged "comments" were posted, most of which are negative and insulting, and practically all of them from persons hiding behind aliases and nicknames, which appear to be untraceable.
Our client and her family view with suspicion these alleged "comments" and the source and writers thereof. It seems highly unlikely that in a span of less than 24 hours, 608 comments from anonymous sources have already been posted.
As a simple exercise, we visited your website, and recorded the number of comments for the articles labeled as "HOT", and those labeled "THIS WEEK'S MOST POPULAR", as of 2:41 p.m. today. We found it interesting and informative that of the "HOT" articles, the Richard Gutierrez received 367 comments more than the 241 comments for the Joshua Formentera piece; more than 100% more comments. Further, of your list of the ten (10) most popular articles for the week, only the AGB Mega Manila article had more comments than the Richard Gutierrez article, with 1120 comments. However, the AGB Mega Manila article was uploaded on April 7, one week ago, and this explains the volume of comments.
Based on your own website articles, we find it unusual that an article uploaded less than 24 hours ago would have significantly more comments than all the other "HOT" items, and exceeded in that short period the number of comments for 9 out of the 10 most popular articles for the week.
Attached and made an integral part hereof as Annex "A" is the breakdown of the number of comments for each of the four (4) "HOT" articles, and each of the ten (10) "THIS WEEK'S MOST POPULAR" articles, as of 2:41 p.m. today.
Given the above figures, our client and her family are understandably skeptical of the source and authenticity of these supposed viewer "comments".
To avoid any further dispute on this particular issue, and to eliminate additional controversy, our client is now asking that PEP cease and desist from uploading or publishing article about her son and talent, Richard Gutierrez, until all legal suits have been resolved. Our client is asking that PEP take the necessary steps to ensure that no further damage and injury is suffered by her entire family as a result of the unlawful uploading of the 29 March 2009 article that spawned this dispute.
FINAL DEMAND is therefore made on PEP's publisher Summit Media, its editorial staff headed by Jo-Ann Maglipon and Karen Pagsolingan, and its writers to immediately, upon receipt of this letter, CEASE AND DESIST from publishing any further articles and/or comments about Richard Gutierrez.
Failure to heed this demand shall be construed as an unlawful refusal to do so, and our client, as a mother and a business manager of Richard Gutierrez, shall thereafter be constrained to take any and all necessary steps to protect her interests, and that of her family.
Very truly yours,
RIVERA SANTOS & MARANAN
Counsel for Ms. Annabelle Rama-Gutierrez
By: Agnes H. Maranan