Senator files libel suit against environment chief

Senator Jamby Madrigal yesterday filed a $1.8 million libel suit against Environment Secretary Michael Defensor for linking her family to illegal logging in the country.

Saying that she filed the case to "rectify the baseless accusations made against me and my family", Madrigal said she would use the money to rehabilitate the southern provinces of Aurora and Quezon that were ravaged by recent typhoons.

Madrigal and Defensor have been trading barbs when the opposition senator started criticising the environment secretary for failing to arrest illegal loggers .

Defensor reacted by saying that Madrigal has no right to criticise him since her family is gaining big profits from logging.

A statement released by the senator's office said that her family had quit the logging business in 1970 and they had also divested themselves of their mining investments in 1979.

In a privilege speech early this week, Madrigal called Defensor a "juvenile" and a "beautiful boy" of the Arroyo administration, and demanded his resignation.

Earlier, Madrigal, who ran for the senate twice before winning last year, demanded that Defensor make a public apology for implicating her family to illegal logging activities.

The environment chief has been consistently denying that he said such a thing and vowed not to step down from his post unless told by President Gloria Arroyo.

What he can offer, according to Defensor, is a reconciliation only and not his resignation.

Defensor said he felt relieved that Madrigal filed the case to once and for all settle the matter. "It's her right to file the case. I don't feel bad about it and now I could continue focusing on the job," he added.