Online libel: Aussie blogger’s victims are helpless

[Monseratto]

There is a blog by self confessed homo***ual hiv afflicted Brian Gorrell from Australia. Allegedly, he came here to the Philippines for fun and gay love with Delfin DJ Montano. The blog alleges that around $70,000 was swindled by DJ from Brian, who convinced the latter that the money was supposed to be invested in a local Portuguese restaurant called Bonza, in the new Greenbelt phase which is yet to be completed. Cocaine trips, Boracay trips, and several prominent personalities like Tim Yap, and Celine Lopez were also mentioned not in a good light.

The GLQ gay lover's quarrel blog has been going on for two weeks now, and has already reached inquirer columns, even alleging that DJ Montano was connected with the Philippine Star, that is why his story did not reach that particular paper.

F***, it really p****s me off that ABN-CBN (TV Netrowk) has finally decided to comment on my dilema...

and they get the whole thing wrong.

How can any of take this debate in your country seriously when your news organizations can't even PRINT THE F*****G names of the people who are destroying the entire fabric and foundation of your country.
When Australian media starts their roll out, names will be mentioned.
Don't worry.

Your media has been hijacked by your media. Funny that.
-Brian Gorrell-
http://delfindjmontano.blogspot.com/

Now the article...

Early this month, Australian Brian Gorrell, 40, signed up for a free blog account. His blog—on stories about love, money, betrayal, violence, and crimes of the young party-going segment of Philippine society’s rich and famous—has since gripped hundreds of thousands, growing into an Internet sensation.

It has also become a case study for online libel laws as those who feel they have been defamed try to seek legal redress.

Readers in China , Canada , Australia , Philippines —especially in the Philippines —and other parts of the globe have been checking out Gorrel’s blog religiously. In a single day, he draws an online traffic of over 50,000. That is very high for a personal blog.

Other bloggers and even foreign media organizations including various Philippine media groups have also picked up his story.

Why the fuss over this blog?

His blog—a personal account of his experiences with a Filipino ex-lover—has all the elements of controversy. In the process, he tells all about the sons and daughters of wealthy families with whom he hang out when he was in the Philippines. Once or twice, familiar big political surnames are dropped, too.

He writes about a model allegedly cheating on her influential husband, a popular events organizer allegedly selling drugs in his parties, personalities who are supposedly drug addicts, and other ugly details about his former friends.

$70,000-debt

But Gorrell says that the purpose of the blog is not to shame all his former friends. It is the means to an end, which is to get back the money that his former lover allegedly stole from him. It amounts to US$70,000—his lifetime savings he says—which he invested in a joint restaurant business with the former lover. The restaurant turned out to be non-existent, so his account goes.

Gorrell writes that they had a violent fight after he began asking the former lover about his investment. One thing led to another and Gorrell had to fly back to Australia .

And then the blog was born.

In every post, Gorrel always begs for the ex-lover to pay him back. “Pay me back, [name of Filipino lover] PLEASE. I’m begging you to end this for me. I need the money. My medication is not cheap. My HIV is not going anyway anytime soon,” he said in one post.

Comments on Gorrell’s posts show that a majority of his readers believe his account. That he is HIV positive also generated a lot of sympathy for the Australian.

Settle in court

Gorrell and the Filipino characters in the blog have several legal options if they intend to bring the matter to the courts. The easiest way is for Gorrell to come back to the Philippines, the lawyers said.

Gorrell can file criminal charges against the former lover. After all, the alleged crime of the Filipino ex-lover was committed here. The former lover can also file libel charges against Gorrell for his allegations.

What makes the situation “interesting” is the fact that Gorrell is not inclined to go back to the Philippines or file charges against the former lover. “No way,” he said in one post. “I have absolutely no intention of spending the next three years of my life battling a liar or thief in your court system in Manila. I have experienced enough of the corrupt process you call law in the Philippines . I’m done. You will never get me into a courthouse in your country. Ever.”

It is clear in Gorrell’s blog that he wants to settle the matter out of the courts. And until the former lover pays him up, the blog and the ugly revelations will continue, so he says in the blog.

Maligned Filipinos want blog stopped

Naturally, it is the Filipinos maligned in the blog that are resorting to legal options to stop Gorrell’s blog. The Filipinos’ lawyers have gotten in touch with Gorrell to convince him to bring the matter to the courts, but to no avail. Gorrell published the entirety of the lawyers’ letter in his blog, too.

One of the subjects has called on the Philippine government to cooperate with the Australian police. Gorrell received a visit from representatives of the Philippine Consulate in Australia who was accompanied by Australian police, but that didn’t stop Gorrell from blogging. According to Gorrell, he was not charged with any crime after the visit from the police.

[chilli]

I hope we are strict on Cyber Law here in the Philippines since nowadays, umiikot sa net na ang daily lives ng mga tao

[Monseratto]

Takot ako, baka mademanda tayo dito. And then these very media people complain where is "free" speech?

The Brian Gorrell Story on Media in Focus
Published by: yuga under: Blogosphere.
posted: March 25th, 2008 (Visited 420 times)
Since the Brian Gorrell blog has emerged a couple weeks ago, I tried to steer away from it because of its libelous nature. Obviously, tens of thousands of people are visiting this Australian guy’s blog about his Filipino ex-lover and the $70,000 money the latter owed him that it has gotten him much attention from the press. This evening, we taped the panel discussion at ANC’s Media in Focus discussing the social and legal ramifications of this phenomenon.

Anybody who’s been following his blog knows the scandalous posts and pictures will only attract libel suits. Lawyer’s of the parties involved have made their moves so far, though nothing concrete has been done. Google, the owner of Blogger.com where the BlogSpot blog is being hosted, has been sent a letter of request to take down the blog as well (not sure if it’s a C&D though).

What other bloggers who have been religiously covering this issue is that they’re also accountable about the spread of such libelous acts and can be held liable in Philippine courts. That’s according to Atty. JJ Disini who was also one of the resource speakers of ANC. Even JV Rufino, EIC of Inquirer.net, said he made sure all their articles (9 so far and counting) steer clear of identifying names, linking or publishing URLs.

Here’s what could get bloggers into trouble if they’re covering the issue.

Publicly mentioning names of people being exposed in the blog.
Posting pictures of the people being named by Brian Gorrell in his blog.
Publishing the URL of the blog or linking to the blog.
Quoting a libelous sentence on the blog or re-publishing/summarizing allegations thereof.
The personalities and families of the people being exposed in the blog are desperate to end this and looks like they’re doing everything they can to stop people from talking about it and they will include bloggers too.

Watch Media in Focus on ANC this Thursday to learn more about this issue. We tried real hard not to name names or mention the blog. The only name we can really talk about in the segment was Brian Gorrell himself.

Pero nagtataka ako bakit mga hypokritong taga media at mga senador puwedeng manira ng tao? Lalo na mga walng katibayan kagaya yung ginagawa ni JLo???

[gearhead]

hahaha maybe "free speech" is reserved for a few?

anyway will the person that made this be liable as well?

[ame="http://youtube.com/watch?v=LMXeVhxHNFQ"]YouTube - Case No. 1026 - The Director's Cut[/ame]

[uls]

the pinoys named in the blog have been trying to shut down that blog but they cant do anything about it...

Kahit sila pa ang pinaka untouchable and influential na tao dito sa Pinas, outside the country, they are powerless.

That aussie is right... he will not win if he files his case in corrupt Phil. courts.

[theveed]

That's ghey... heheh

[chilli]

well, true. dito sa pinas kasi lahat ng binanggit nya sa blog nya puro untouchables. But I hope their issue will be resolved soon.

[Altis6453]

There's a reason why the lawyers of the personalities named in the blog want Brian Gorrel to come to the Philippines. Without saying it, they're actually hoping they can file the appropriate complaints against him and have him thrown in jail while his case is being heard.

Actually, what he's doing is a pretty effective way to "persuade" Mr. Montano to pay up without resorting to all the legal remedies.

[cutedoc]

its like trial by publicity...

a blog is like a journal, a newspaper, a tv, another type of media in which the writer could fully express his insights. To date there is no law that limits the offensive words used in the blogs, there are cyber nanny to protect minors however minors nowadays knows how to crack passwords...

boy bastos was track down due to **** selling in the net, however what he does is just a hobby, however it should be strict in enforcing age qualification like securing a valid Id for that matter.

going back to gorrel, i had read his blog, and he had included a lot of class A crowd in his blog, defamating them to the bones, yet it is for the readers to judge if the words written were true or not, just like an editorial.

[Galactus]

Our very own Supreme Court has used moral suasion in convincing judges to go soft on libel cases, which is why IMO, if Brian Gorrell does visit the country again, the maligned personalities can't do much about him. (Some sectors even want it decriminalized).

Jail time? Not unless the judges or prosecutors get bribed, and believe me, it's more rampant as it seems. Even minor court officials get their share of the pie (process servers, stenogrpahers, etc). I speak from first hand experience, as I am a regular habitue of court proceedings. (As the private complainant ha, not as an accused).