Online libel: Aussie blogger’s victims are helpless

[Monseratto]

There is a blog by self confessed homo***ual hiv afflicted Brian Gorrell from Australia. Allegedly, he came here to the Philippines for fun and gay love with Delfin DJ Montano. The blog alleges that around $70,000 was swindled by DJ from Brian, who convinced the latter that the money was supposed to be invested in a local Portuguese restaurant called Bonza, in the new Greenbelt phase which is yet to be completed. Cocaine trips, Boracay trips, and several prominent personalities like Tim Yap, and Celine Lopez were also mentioned not in a good light.

The GLQ gay lover's quarrel blog has been going on for two weeks now, and has already reached inquirer columns, even alleging that DJ Montano was connected with the Philippine Star, that is why his story did not reach that particular paper.

F***, it really p****s me off that ABN-CBN (TV Netrowk) has finally decided to comment on my dilema...

and they get the whole thing wrong.

How can any of take this debate in your country seriously when your news organizations can't even PRINT THE F*****G names of the people who are destroying the entire fabric and foundation of your country.
When Australian media starts their roll out, names will be mentioned.
Don't worry.

Your media has been hijacked by your media. Funny that.
-Brian Gorrell-
http://delfindjmontano.blogspot.com/

Now the article...

Early this month, Australian Brian Gorrell, 40, signed up for a free blog account. His blog—on stories about love, money, betrayal, violence, and crimes of the young party-going segment of Philippine society’s rich and famous—has since gripped hundreds of thousands, growing into an Internet sensation.

It has also become a case study for online libel laws as those who feel they have been defamed try to seek legal redress.

Readers in China , Canada , Australia , Philippines —especially in the Philippines —and other parts of the globe have been checking out Gorrel’s blog religiously. In a single day, he draws an online traffic of over 50,000. That is very high for a personal blog.

Other bloggers and even foreign media organizations including various Philippine media groups have also picked up his story.

Why the fuss over this blog?

His blog—a personal account of his experiences with a Filipino ex-lover—has all the elements of controversy. In the process, he tells all about the sons and daughters of wealthy families with whom he hang out when he was in the Philippines. Once or twice, familiar big political surnames are dropped, too.

He writes about a model allegedly cheating on her influential husband, a popular events organizer allegedly selling drugs in his parties, personalities who are supposedly drug addicts, and other ugly details about his former friends.

$70,000-debt

But Gorrell says that the purpose of the blog is not to shame all his former friends. It is the means to an end, which is to get back the money that his former lover allegedly stole from him. It amounts to US$70,000—his lifetime savings he says—which he invested in a joint restaurant business with the former lover. The restaurant turned out to be non-existent, so his account goes.

Gorrell writes that they had a violent fight after he began asking the former lover about his investment. One thing led to another and Gorrell had to fly back to Australia .

And then the blog was born.

In every post, Gorrel always begs for the ex-lover to pay him back. “Pay me back, [name of Filipino lover] PLEASE. I’m begging you to end this for me. I need the money. My medication is not cheap. My HIV is not going anyway anytime soon,” he said in one post.

Comments on Gorrell’s posts show that a majority of his readers believe his account. That he is HIV positive also generated a lot of sympathy for the Australian.

Settle in court

Gorrell and the Filipino characters in the blog have several legal options if they intend to bring the matter to the courts. The easiest way is for Gorrell to come back to the Philippines, the lawyers said.

Gorrell can file criminal charges against the former lover. After all, the alleged crime of the Filipino ex-lover was committed here. The former lover can also file libel charges against Gorrell for his allegations.

What makes the situation “interesting” is the fact that Gorrell is not inclined to go back to the Philippines or file charges against the former lover. “No way,” he said in one post. “I have absolutely no intention of spending the next three years of my life battling a liar or thief in your court system in Manila. I have experienced enough of the corrupt process you call law in the Philippines . I’m done. You will never get me into a courthouse in your country. Ever.”

It is clear in Gorrell’s blog that he wants to settle the matter out of the courts. And until the former lover pays him up, the blog and the ugly revelations will continue, so he says in the blog.

Maligned Filipinos want blog stopped

Naturally, it is the Filipinos maligned in the blog that are resorting to legal options to stop Gorrell’s blog. The Filipinos’ lawyers have gotten in touch with Gorrell to convince him to bring the matter to the courts, but to no avail. Gorrell published the entirety of the lawyers’ letter in his blog, too.

One of the subjects has called on the Philippine government to cooperate with the Australian police. Gorrell received a visit from representatives of the Philippine Consulate in Australia who was accompanied by Australian police, but that didn’t stop Gorrell from blogging. According to Gorrell, he was not charged with any crime after the visit from the police.