A QUEZON City court has directed ABS-CBN Channel 2 to answer the civil complaint filed against the network by TV host Willie Revillame.
Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 84 told ABS-CBN Broadcasting Network to submit its answer to Revillame’s complaint within 15 days upon receipt of the order.
Revillame, host of the TV station’s noontime program “Wowowee,” filed the complaint for judicial confirmation of rescission of contract with damages in the court.
He also asked to be awarded P11 million in damages, apart from asking the court to confirm that his contract with ABS-CBN had been terminated.
Restraint
The court summons reminded the network to observe restraint in filing a motion to dismiss and “instead allege the grounds thereof as defenses in the answer.”
“If you fail to answer within the time aforesaid, the plaintiff will take judgment against you by default and may be granted the relief applied for in the complaint,” said court clerk Mary Anne Plata Daytia.
The summons was sent on Aug. 31 by court sheriff Franklin Dazo to Maxim Uy, chief legal counsel of ABS-CBN.
In August, Revillame lodged the complaint docketed as Q-10-67770 in which he alleged that the network suspended him without pay, cancelled “Wowowee” unilaterally and downgraded his program from three hours daily or 18 hours weekly to just one hour weekly, or 17 hours less air time.
Damages
Apart from confirming the termination of his contract, the petitioner asked the court to award him P5 million in moral damages, P5 million in exemplary damages, attorneys’ fees of P1 million, as well as P500,000 for litigation costs.
“Plaintiff has, for valid reasons, rescinded his contract with ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. However, ABS-CBN publicly disputed the rescission and claimed it was the aggrieved party. So the public may know the truth as to who really is the aggrieved party, who truly is at fault, who has been insincere, who acted with evident bad faith, and who broke promises, plaintiff desires to have his rescission judicially confirmed.”
Revillame said he had already ended his contract with ABS-CBN “for valid reasons” but the giant TV network had publicly disputed it, saying they were the aggrieved party.
He said that because of the show’s cancellation, he could be deprived of his earnings from “in-show” product endorsements which had become part of his compensation package.
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