Court gives wife of Eat Bulaga’s co-host 15 days to answer TRO plea

JOSE Manalo

MANILA, Philippines—A Quezon City court has ordered the wife of comedian Jose Manalo to answer a petition of producers of noontime show Eat Bulaga seeking to bar her from going near or calling her spouse.

Judge Luis Cenon Maceren of Regional Trial Court Branch 218 issued the summons on April 10 directing defendant Anna Lyn Manalo to file her reply within 15 days.

Should she fail to answer within the given period, plaintiff Television and Productions Exponents Inc. (TAPE) will take judgment by default and may be granted the sought-after temporary restraining order against her.

Manalo has 15 days to submit her answer to TAPE’s civil complaint upon receipt of the court’s summons sent by registered mail.

“You are reminded of the provision in the IBP-OCA Memorandum on Policy  Guidelines dated March 12, 2002, to observe restraint in filing a motion to dismiss and instead allege the grounds thereof as defenses in your answer,” the document read.

Last month, TAPE, which produces the GMA 7 noontime show Eat Bulaga lodged a damage suit for injunction against Manalo, a resident of Greenhills in San Juan City.

In its 22-page civil complaint, the producer sought to bar Manalo, whom they alleged to be harassing her husband Jose since Nov. 2011 at his place of work.

Aside from a TRO and permanent injunction, TAPE asked the court to award them P100,000 nominal damages, P250,000 moral damages and P100,000 in attorney’s fees.

In the same petition, the plaintiff also asked the court to issue a permanent injunction against the defendant, her agents or any person acting for and in her behalf.

The plaintiff claimed that to allow Jose’s wife to “continue harassing him” would disrupt TAPE’s efficient and orderly operations, specifically Eat Bulaga’s live broadcast.

Manalo’s acts led Jose to miss mentioning some paid advertisements due to emotional stress, the plaintiff claimed. His schedule became unpredictable, harming TAPE’s business interests.

Meanwhile, the hearing on the prayer for a TRO will be conducted Friday at 2 p.m. during which TAPE is expected to present its witness.

The court postponed its March 16 hearing after the process server failed to serve the summons to Manalo at her old address along Scout de Guia St. in Quezon City.