Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio pleaded not guilty on Friday, March 18, to the cyber unjust vexation charges filed against him by retired commissioner Rowena Guanzon of the Commission of Elections.
He pleaded not guilty before Judge Edgar Tupas of the Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 46, Guanzon said.
Guanzon said she filed the complaint against Topacio for mocking her by claiming she has an early onset of Alzheimer’s disease on Twitter, a social microblogging platform.
She did not take that lightly because her mother had Alzheimer’s disease, Guanzon said in her complaint affidavit.
Guanzon said Topacio publicly ascribed a mental condition to her with the clear intent of using the same to publicly humiliate and annoy her.
He also called her disoriented, a pathetic old woman and Commishunga and held an online contest to mock and insult her, Guanzon added.
Topacio also encouraged more Twitter users to submit entries to his online contest by extending the deadline and adding a second prize, she added.
“To insult me multiple times then launch an online contest to mock me, and then incite the public to join him in such vile acts by promising them monetary reward bespeak of malice of the highest degree,” she said.*