Yap’s lawyer seeks gag order on Pepsi Paloma movie details

Darryl Yap’s Facebook photo

MANILA, Philippines — The lawyer for film director Darryl Yap on Friday asked a Muntinlupa City court to bar the camp of comedian and “Eat Bulaga!” host Marvic “Vic” Sotto from publicly disclosing information related to the unreleased biopic of the late 1980s starlet Pepsi Paloma.

Raymond Fortun, who officially presented himself to the court as Yap’s legal counsel, filed an urgent motion for the issuance of a gag order in the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205.

It was in response to the petition for a writ of habeas data filed on Monday by Sotto to stop Yap from violating the data privacy law and his right to life, liberty and security when he released a teaser for the film, “The Rapists of Pepsi Paloma,” explicitly linking the television host to the alleged crime.

‘Freedom of expression’

Presiding Judge Liezel Aquiatan on Thursday issued the writ directing Yap to respond within five days and setting a hearing on the petition on Jan. 15.

Fortun said Yap would comply with the court’s deadline to respond, but the lawyer sought the gag order as the film involved in the case had not been released and discussing it in public could harm the director’s project.

“Any disclosure of the verified return would not only violate (Yap’s) freedom of expression, but it shall also cause grave and irreparable damage to (the director’s) artistic license and outcome of the film,” according to his motion.

Takedown plea

If granted, this would mean that details of Yap’s response to the petition shall be kept in “strict confidence,” in compliance with the subjudice rule.

It was Yap, however, who disclosed his movie project and released a movie clip that triggered a P35-million cyberlibel lawsuit filed on Thursday by Sotto against the director for defamation.

In his earlier habeas data petition, Sotto asked the court to order the takedown of all the movie promotional materials, including the 26-second teaser from all platforms. The movie clip was first made public on Yap’s social media accounts and on his production company Vincentiments on New Year’s Day.

“It is our understanding that temporarily the respondent (Yap) must comply with the prayer of the petition, otherwise the writ is useless,” Enrique dela Cruz, Sotto’s lawyer, told the Inquirer.

He also pointed out that the writ was “not just an order to submit an answer” to the petition.

“That is the nature of a writ of habeas data,” he said.

“After summary proceedings, it is also respectfully prayed that the said writ of habeas data be made permanent,” the petition reads.

For clarification

But Fortun refuted the supposed takedown order from the court.

“The order is clear enough on what is to be done and cannot be done,” he said. “If there was a restraining order issued, it would have been explicitly stated. Lawyers should know better.”

Reacting to Fortun’s statement, Dela Cruz on Friday agreed that the court had not handed down a temporary restraining order.

But in the interest of both sides, Dela Cruz said that Sotto’s legal team would ask the court to clarify the order as well as the writ.

Based on Section 7 of the Rules on the Writ of Habeas Data that took effect in 2008, the court shall immediately issue a writ and serve it within three days from issuance. It also mentions the need to set the date and time for a summary hearing on the petition.

Controversy magnet

Section 16 states that once the allegations in the petition are proven by “substantial evidence,” the court shall, among other things, order the “deletion, destruction or rectification of the erroneous data or information and grant other relevant relief … otherwise, the privilege of the writ shall be denied.”

Yap, 38, has built a reputation for courting controversy with his works.

In 2022, he released “Maid in Malacañang,” a film widely criticized for alleged historical distortion.

Its 2023 sequel, “Martyr or Murderer,” examines the 1983 assassination of former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., whose widow, Corazon Aquino, was swept to power after the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH