City Councilor Edgar Lo Kapirig declared the other day that he has no intention of maligning the integrity of businessman Mariano Uy. In a six-page counter-affidavit, the city councilor through counsel Cebu-based lawyer Helen Catacutan-Acas debunked the allegations as contained in the complaint for grave slander and libel before the City Prosecutor's Office fil3ed by Uy. Asst. City Prosecutor Romeo Chatto handled the preliminary investigation. In denying Uy's charges, Kapirig said there was no truth to the allegation made by the complainant when he quoted his witness, Maria Cecilia Fernan.

The two cases which sought P10 million in damages stemmed from the questions and comments that Kapirig addressed to Dr. Alodiza Sepe, an accredited physician of the Botika sa Barangay and Fernan, Uy's niece and encoder of the botika. Uy was designated by Mayor Dan Neri Lim as overseer of the city's botika. He was named also as the city's deputy mayor. According to Kapirig there was nothing slanderous in his casual conversation with Botika personnel. However, Kapirig said, if there was any statement made as quoted by Fernan, it was very clear that all of them were mere queries and questions on material facts pertaining to the Botika sa Katawhan, made in a private conversation.

The Botika is a private initiative of Uy through donations from his friends in the United States. In justifying why he raised questions about the Botika, Kapirig said that as a taxpayer, he has the right to know in good faith, transactions of which the government is involved, like the Botika sa Katawhan, because a public office is a public trust. At the same time, the city councilor denied having libeled Mr. Uy. He said there was nothing malicious or libelous of the statements he made during the barangay confrontation.

The city lawmaker maintained that any communication made during the barangay hearing was privileged in nature and thus he could not be held liable for lible. According to Kag. Kapirig, if it was his intention to malign Uy, then he could have right away file a criminal case against him for illegally collecting rentals on the spaces occupied by vendors during the Sandugo Fair sometime in July 2007 and December 2007. Kapirig charged Uy of using the public wharf to exact rentals from occupants of the stalls he built. Uy was granted by the city government to construct market stalls during the last Sandugo and Christmas season in order to raise funds for his brainchild, the Botika sa Katawhan.