Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is getting his comeuppance at former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi after the latter accused him of “politicizing” a Senate inquiry into the Malampaya buyout deal.
The Valenzuela Prosecutor’s Office found basis for Gatchalian’s complaint against Cusi, who berated the senator in public at the height of the Senate energy panel’s probe on Dennis Uy’s takeover of the Malampaya gas field.
The panel sought to answer if Uy’s acquisition of a controlling stake in the Malampaya natural gas project was legal and vetted by regulators.
At the time of the hearings, Cusi called Gatchalian out for supposedly “politicizing” the inquiry because of the senator’s supposed business interests.
“The fact remains that the defamatory statements was anchored on false allegations,” senior assistant city prosecutor Rudy Ricamora, Jr. wrote.
“The post no longer talks about the legality or illegality of the transfer of share but it already talks about Gatchalian and his tendency to corrupt, commit fraud, being dishonest and abusive,” he added.
“Verily, Cusi acted maliciously, when he posted his defamatory statements in the DOE website,” the prosecutor ruled.
Ricamora recommended the filing of charges against Cusi for violating Section 4 (c) (4) of Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cyber Crime Prevention Act of 2012.
Cusi previously sued journalists from several media outlets who reported the filing of criminal complaints against him for the Malampaya deal with Uy, but withdrew them by the end of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s term.
Uy has since sold his Malampay