NEWSFLASH 

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P50-M SUIT VS. KORINA FOR CALLING SECT “KILLER KULTO”

Quezon City, Feb. 26, 2000 Telecommunications giant ABS-CBN and its star TV host Korina Sanchez are facing a P50-million libel suit filed by a Bataan-based religious sect which the program “Balitang K” called a “killer kulto” or killer cult.

The case was filed by Virginia Leonzon, founder of the Apostolic Catholic Church, against Sanchez and ABS-CBN officials. The lawsuit filed at the Bataan provincial prosecutor’s office claimed that the TV report damaged Leonzon’s name and good standing.

Atty. Oliver Lozano, Leonzon’s legal counsel, said “Balitang K” aired a segment on February 3 featuring the Apostolic Catholic Church in an episode entitle “Killer Kulto.”

Leonzon, also known as Apo Viring or Mama Viring, alleged that the accused “maliciously made it appear on television that the complainant’s sect is a “killer kulto” bby citing a certain Femerie Reyes-Raymundo as one of its victims.

The segment allegedly recounted that Raymundo was treated by Leonzon by pricking the patient’s finger tips and burning parts of her body with a lighted candle, said “treatment” allegedly causing the patient’s death.

The complaint stated that Roverto Raymundo, husband of the deceased patient, had denied accusing Leonzon and the sect as the cause of his wiffe’s death.

Femerie Reyes-Raymundo was suffering from several ailments, which eventually caused her death, the husband said.

Korina’s segment “Balitang K” precedes ABS-CBN’s prime afternoon newscast “TV Patrol.”

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