December 22, 2000, The Philippine Star, No more libel suit vs Der Spiegel? by Marichu Villanueva,

December 22, 2000, The Philippine Star, No more libel suit vs Der Spiegel? by Marichu Villanueva, 

President Estrada may follow the path of Flagship Projects Secretary Robert Aventajado and drop his original plan to sue a popular German magazine which accused the two of them of skimming off the ransoms paid to Abu Sayyaf kidnappers.

Press Undersecretary Mike Toledo yesterday told The STAR Aventajado may advise the President to drop his plan to sue Der Spiegel for libel.

Der Spiegel, in its Dec. 11 issue, came out with an article claiming that Mr. Estrada skimmed 40 percent while Aventajado cut some 10 percent from the $20 million ransom paid for unnamed hostages of the Abu Sayyaf.

The magazine claimed they learned of the scam through the German secret police who were monitoring the satellite phone conversations between Aventajado and Abu Sayyaf chieftain Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot.

Upon the advice of his lawyers, Aventajado said he will simply write a letter of complaint to Der Spiegel publisher Rudolf Augstein and demand an apology.

Toledo said Aventajado may also advise the President to take the same path because of the difficulty of pursuing a libel complaint in Germany.

Aventajado, the government's chief negotiator during the Abu Sayyaf kidnapping crisis, formally transmitted to Der Spiegel his complaint in a letter dated Dec. 15.

"I admit that I was shocked at the insinuation that President Joseph Estrada and myself received a share in the ransom money paid to the Abu Sayyaf," Aventajado stated in his letter, even as he asked that the letter be published in Der Spiegel.

"I am left with no remedy against the damaging report in your news magazine. I can therefore only appeal to your sense of justice and fair play. If there is indeed a tape of the conversation I had with the Abu Sayyaf showing that I had asked or even discussed a share in the ransom money, please produce this tape as well as the transcript of any such conversations," he urged the magazine.

Enraged by the article, the President and Aventajado initially considered filing a libel complaint against Der Spiegel.

"Upon my lawyers' advice, it is hard for such a case to prosper. So I decided to write the magazine instead," Aventajado said, adding that as a government official he can no longer be "onion-skinned."

"I think it is part of the job. But if the truth is on our side, we must fight back," Aventajado said. "As government officials, we cannot avoid getting mud hurled against us. What's important is to make sure that the mud doesn't stick."