oral defamation

a neighbor filed an oral defamation case against me. please bear with me as this is long since i have to start from the root cause of the said issue.

first and foremost,this was supposed to be a domestic problem. my cousin's live-in partner (both are not living under the same roof right now), they have 3 children prior to amicable separation because the guy and the mother of my cousin has some previous dispute since this guy hasn't been providing for their 3 children depending only on my aunt, but both understand that they are still together...

problem came when i saw this guy and another girl neighbor last first week of april at around 12mn. they were not doing anything per se (like the actual sex) but body language speaks for itself. hands of the guy on the girl's shoulders and girl's hand on the thigh. this caused a speculation on my side...i told my cousin about it the next day. and last april 9, my cousin went to the girl's house asking for confirmation if rumors are true about them. the girl got angry and threatened my cousin to slap her face and affirmed that they're together with 2 of my cousin's kids presence(9 yrs. old and 6 yrs. old respectively).

this angered my cousin naturally, she told me all about it and i told her to let it go and move on...but without my knowledge they had a text war with her and her live-in partner... apparently, this girl and the guy threatened to divulge my cousin's family secret, answering the guy's phone when my cousin calls and tell her to excuse themselves because they are going to a motel and make love. people around our neighborhood knew about it a long time ago,and this embarassed my cousing big time, since the girl told her that she doesn't have the right to go after her partner since they were never married and "inanakan lang siya".

there were many slanderous words that these girl uttered but we chose to ignore it, until last may 5, my cousin texted me to come and see her because this girl texted her more slanderous things. i came to see my cousin, please note that this girl and i are neighbors including my cousin's live-in partner. we went to the girl's house and approach the kids calmly.. that we want to talk to their mom. she did not came out not until a sister of hers came to their house ( we suppose she notified her to come).

she literally rushed out of their house and was about to slap us when the sister came in, called us bad, foul things.. she even implied that we are a good for nothing family, that my auntie's children has different family name, implying that she has multiple husband. it was a heated argument, there was an exchange of painful words and i told her daughter in reply to the aforementioned slanderous words, in our dialect, "your mother is not worthy, dili siya angay respetuhon, hugaw (dirty) siya nga pagkababae".

she threatened of filing a complaint against us to the barangay office, saying that she will let us pay a price. my cousin for harassment, and me for oral defamation. we, on the other hand, file a countercharge, and we will have our first hearing this may 13, thursday @ 9:30am."

my question is, does she have a valid reason for her case? am i to pay her because i am not willing to pay.

the barangay has no power to decide whether any of you is guilty of any crime. it only can try to mediate between the parties and convince them to reach an amicable settlement. if this fails, then the barangay will issue a certification to file action and the criminal complaints can be filed at the prosecutor's office.

since this is just a mediation, you cannot be directed to pay any amount unless it is with your consent.

what are the counter charges you filed? you can throw back unjust vexation and slander against the girl. if she sent slanderous texts about your cousin to other persons, you can throw libel in the mix.

so the guy does not live with your cousin. where is he in all of this? you mean he joined the girl in a text war against your cousin? seems to me he's the most criminally liable in all of this.

yes, he's no longer living with my cousin and i agree with what you have to say that he has more criminal liabilities...for one, he doesn't support the 3 kids, he's more than able, and completed high school so that makes him qualified even for a janitorial position, IF he has the intent to support his family.

we file an oral defamation counter charge as well. the second hearing was reset to may20, 2010. she says she's not into amicable settlement but i understand that there are at least 5 hearings that we have to go through before going to court. my question now, my husband is in the US and he has yet to get a working visa, he's in a student visa right now. is it safe to get a passport right now to avoid problems in the future? if the case is filed in the prosecutor's office, will that affect my getting a passport and for my kids as well?

will she succeed in her quest for asking money and does she have a strong case if ever? we don't have proof that they had sex with this guy but she affirmed to it but vehemently denies it now...what can we do? this is totally pissing us off big time!

getting a passport will not be affected by the case.

she can request the DOJ to issue a watch list order when the case is pending with prosecutor's office but you can oppose.

slander has to be uttered publicly. are there other persons aside from her who heard you say the defamatory statement? do you have witnesses when she uttered the defamatory statements against you?

did you save the texts from her?