Kapamilya actor Enchong Dee voluntarily surrendered at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Quezon City.
According to Fashion Pulis, Dee went to the NBI in Quezon City in the afternoon of Monday, January 31, to surrender and face his cyber libel case filed by DUMPER Partylist Rep. Claudine Bautista-Lim.
The cyber libel case stemmed from Enchong’s controversial tweet regarding the party-list congresswoman’s lavish wedding in Balesin at the height of the pandemic.
In an already deleted tweet, Dee criticized Bautista’s wedding, saying, “The money for commuters and drivers went to her wedding. Let’s not prolong this conversation and don’t say otherwise.”
While other Kapamilya artists like Pokwang, Ogie Diaz, and Agot Isidro also tweeted their criticisms of the wedding, their cases were dropped, and only Enchong’s case was pushed through.
In her statement on filing the case before the Prosecutor’s office in Davao Occidental, Bautista-Lim said, “On news reports regarding my filing of a cyber libel complaint against certain personalities, I would like to clarify that any legal action coming from us was instituted back in August of this year, upon my husband’s insistence and in response to the malicious allegations made against me at that time.”
“While I would have preferred to be silent about this matter, my husband, like any good and loving family man, took it upon himself to seek redress from the legal system, to protect me and our family from baseless and damaging claims made against us.”
Bautista is asking for 1 billion pesos moral and exemplary damage for what she described as a “malicious and defamatory” tweet from the actor, which causes damage to her and her family’s reputation.
Meanwhile, prior to his surrender, veteran columnist and anchor Cristy Fermin advised Enchong to surrender since he could post bail voluntarily.
“Ang pinakamagandang magagawa rito ni Enchong Dee ay ang voluntary surrender. Doon po siya pupunta sa judge na nag-issue ng warrant of arrest. Doon po sa sala na ‘yun ay pupuwede siyang maglagak ng piyansa.
“Hindi po pupuwedeng pagtaguan ito dahil lahat po ng sangay ng kapulisan ay pinadadalhan,
“At heto pa po puwede ring mag piyansa si Enchong Dee dito sa Maynila basta hawak niya ‘yung WA niya kasi sa Davao Occidental ‘yan.” she added.
“Pero ang pinaka ano diyan, ‘wag mong paliitin ang mundo mo, mag voluntary surrender ka at kung magkano ang piyasan, kailangan mo talagang ibigay sa korte.”
And true enough, Enchong was able to post bail Monday evening after a judge could process his papers necessary for this release from detention.
