Annabelle Rama. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
CEBU CITY—From her home turf, Annabelle Rama launched a volley of countercharges against her Metro Manila-based adversaries in show business.
The feisty talent manager has filed a string of libel charges against former actresses Nadia Montenegro and Amalia Fuentes and a movie reporter for allegedly insulting her through the social media.
Rama—who has been drafted by her cousin, Mayor Mike Rama, to run for Congress to represent Cebu City’s north district in the 2013 elections—put Rahman Street, Barangay Zapatera, Cebu City, as her address in the complaints.
She was accompanied by her brother, Barangay Basak chair George Rama, and lawyer Delon Richel Ramon Urot in filing the complaints in the city prosecutor’s office on Thursday afternoon.
The complaints cited Montenegro for 10 counts of libel and Fuentes (identified in the complaint by her off-screen name Amalia Muhlach) for eight counts.
She also sued movie reporter Chito Alcid for seven counts of libel.
Rama said she also planned to sue Montenegro for damages for accusing her of faking the contracts of Montenegro’s children who were earlier under the talent manager’s care.
Prior to the filing, Rama held a media conference at a restaurant, flanked by husband Eddie Gutierrez, son Elvis and grandchildren Lorin and Venice who are daughters of actress Ruffa Gutierrez.
Rama said she filed the libel charges in Cebu City because she is a native and a registered voter here. She also expressed confidence in the impartiality of the local judges
In the complaints, Rama recalled that Montenegro and Fuentes posted several “libelous” comments on their Twitter accounts. Montenegro, for example, humiliated her with tweets posted from Jan. 30 to April 22, she said.
Fuentes’ “malicious and libelous” public statements, on the other hand, were meant “to bring disrepute, scorn or ridicule upon me,” the complainant added.
Alcid, meanwhile, used his Facebook account to malign her with posts made from January to May, Rama claimed.
Rama is facing charges for 14 counts of libel filed by Montenegro in a Quezon City court. Fuentes also lodged complaints against Rama for 11 counts of libel in the city prosecutor’s office.