MANILA REGIONAL Trial Court (RTC) has acquitted lawyer Lorna Kapunan, Horacio “Atio” Castillo III’s family lawyer, for unjust vexation filed by the UST Civil Law dean as the prosecution failed to prove her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
UST Civil Law Dean Nilo Divina filed slander complaints against Kapunan in 2017 over her defamatory statements during a television interview amid the investigation of the hazing- slay case of Castillo.
Kapunan stated during her interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel that Divina recruited Castillo in the Aegis Juris Fraternity and he coddled the members involved in the initiation rites.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) deemed Kapunan’s remarks on Divina to be above the law and therefore caused the law dean “annoyance, irritation, vexation, and torment.”
Divina also filed libel complaints but was dismissed due to a lack of legal basis.
The promulgation ordered on Jan. 2 by Presiding Judge Karla Funtila-Abugan also absolved Kapunan of civil liability for the same reason mentioned above.
The DOJ indicted Kapunan of unjust vexation in December 2018. F
