By John Clifford Lintao
FOR failure to verify the authenticity of photos it has published, a prominent tabloid in Manila gets sued by no less than 2018 Miss Universe Catriona Gray over her supposed topless photo that was published by the newspaper.
Through her lawyer Joji Alonso, the beauty queen has filed the first case before the Quezon City Prosecutors Office against Bulgar and its editors for publishing what she claimed was a fake topless photo of her.
“The first case has been filed before the Quezon City Prosecutors Office while we await the results of the NBI investigation on the identification of other respondents,” Atty. Alonso wrote in the caption of her post on Instagram.
According to a report on PEP.ph, Catriona, accompanied by her talent manager Erickson Raymundo and legal counsel Atty. Alonso, filed a libel complaint against the tabloid Bulgar, its editor Janice Navida, and writer Melba Llanera.
The filing took place on Friday morning, September 18 at the QC Prosecutor’s Office.
In July, Catriona sought the help of the NBI to track the people behind the fake topless photos circulating online.
Her lawyer Joji Alonso said in the statement that the photos were “fake and digitally altered” and that they would take “legal action against those involved in the manufacture and publication of said photo.”
The lawyer added they denounced the “vicious attempt to tarnish the good name of Ms Gray.”
Last August, the tabloid defended itself saying they did their part in protecting her by blurring the photo and “not releasing the original.”