by Diego Morra
The “secret” complainant in the cyberlibel case against tabloid columnist Philip Lustre Jr., who was arrested on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, right at the venue of the Saturday News Forum at Dapo Restaurant in Quezon City, turned out to be Atty. Mans Carpio, the once-proud stockholder of Cale88 Food, which was exporting banana chips to Hong Kong, China and other countries. Atty. Carpio was apparently erased from the ownership structure of Cale88 in July 2026, just as the impeachment trial of his wife, Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio, commenced at the Senate.
Based on the court documents, the complaint stemmed from Lustre’s March 6, 2026 Facebook post which alleged that Carpio “spent” P300-million to finance the operation of the 18 Marines who claimed to have delivered billions of pesos from flood control projects to lawmakers. The post read: “SUMUKA si Mans Carpio ng P300-M sa operasyon ng Marines: P150-M kay Mike; P50-M kay Levi; at P5-M sa bawat isa sa 18 Marines?” (Did Mans Carpio cough up P300 million for the Marines’ operation: P150 million to Mike, P50 million to Levi, and P5 million each to the 18 Marines?)
Since what Lustre posted was a question to which Carpio could respond on Facebook, it is doubtful whether the Davao City prosecutor considered the difference between a categorical statement accusing Carpio of bribery and a question that seeks corroboration or denial. Thus, Lustre’s counsel, Atty. Dino de Leon, might as well question why he or she gave short shrift to the respondent. However, based on the Davao City prosecutor’s reading, the written online statement “taken in its plain, natural, and ordinary meaning, directly imputes upon Atty. Manases R. Carpio.”
De Leon noted that Lustre was never informed about the complaint that was given due course in March 2026. In eight months, the Davao City prosecutors failed to know Lustre’s residence and thus could not serve him with subpoena to compel him to contest Carpio’s allegations. Too convenient for Mans to have all the chances to pursue a case against Lustre without the benefit of a reply. Everything was ex parte and such proceedings would normally warrant dismissal in other jurisdictions. Miffed by the tactics of the other party, de Leon said: “We will confront this case properly and we reserve our client’s right to file the appropriate counter-charges.”
For posing a question, Davao City prosecutors now want Lustre to be on the dock to answer charges that he had willfully and maliciously imputed a criminal act on Carpio in violation of Sec. (4C) 4 of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, also known as Republic Act No. 10175. Lustre was in the dark about the identity of the complainant, telling reporters that he suspected it was either Mans or Rep. Pulong Duterte. It was only a copy of the information was sent to de Leon that they finally pinpointed Mans, who is still grieving after his father, Atty. Lucas Carpio, died.
Journalists are mourning, too, over the conduct of the Lustre arrest and the dubious process that led to the Oct. 24, 2026 apprehension at a Quezon City news forum, With the information kept in some black hole, there was no way for the accused to reply and demolish the allegations lodged against him. Such puerile tactics as “failing” to determine the address of Lustre and merely listing his “residence” as the editorial offices of a Makati-based newspaper, are part of the scheme to make it hard for him to prepare his defense.
Moreover, Judge Retrina Espe Fuentes of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 10 in Davao City, who signed the arrest warrant for Lustre was the same judge who issued the arrest warrant for Davao Death Squad (DDS) whistleblower Arturo Lascañas in 2017 after he turned his back on Rodrigo Duterte, who was sitting as president then. Lascanas tagged Duterte as the architect of the “tokhang” murders. Eventually, Lascanas fled the country and revealed everything he knew about the slaughter of 30,000 people during the anti-drug war as well as the murders of the enemies of the Duterte political dynasty. In 2022, Fuentes also signed the arrest warrant for Walden Bello for the cyberlibel case filed against him by Sara Duterte’s cherished staff member Jefry Tupas.
Legal experts said that from the looks of it, the case may have to pass through the eye of a needle before it earns a tad of gravitas. From the outset, it appears that justice will elude Lustre in the Duterte fiefdom and the logical option is to seek its transfer to another venue but expect a bitter fight from Mans, who naturally wants the trial to be held in Davao City. At any rate, this case is a significant one for libel laws, from print, broadcast to social media. Times have changed so much, indeed, that fair comment and simple questions now make a commentator liable for Facebook libel. It is a frightening prospect that asking questions may yet become a prohibited act in Davao City.#
