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Liberty Flour Mills files cyber libel complaint vs former execs as family feud deepens

MANILA, Philippines – The bitter corporate feud at Liberty Flour Mills (LFM) may soon spill into the courtroom, with the listed flour miller filing a cyber libel complaint against two former executives over news reports that aired allegations of corporate abuse and conflicts of interest at the company.

LFM disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange that on Tuesday, August 11, it filed a complaint-affidavit before the Office of the City Prosecutor of Makati against former president Sandra Judy Uy, former vice president and assistant treasurer Stella Marie Jill Uy, and other unnamed individuals. The complaint was filed by LFM through corporate secretary William Ang.

The filing does not mean criminal charges have already been brought before a court. Prosecutors will first have to determine whether there is sufficient basis to proceed with a cyber libel case.

The complaint concerns three articles published by InsiderPH, Manila Bulletin, and Daily Tribune in September 2025, at the height of the internal dispute between Sandra and Stella’s camp and LFM’s current leadership, headed by chairman and president John Carlos Uy, Sandra’s uncle.

Those stories reported on Sandra and Stella’s request for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate LFM’s dealings with Parity Values Incorporated (PVI), its largest distributor and biggest shareholder.

Among the issues alleged were PVI’s roughly P805 million in receivables owed to LFM, unusually long payment terms, and overlapping officers and directors between the two companies. Sandra and Stella had asked regulators to examine whether the arrangement created conflicts of interest and whether the board’s handling of the receivables amounted to corporate abuse.

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LFM, however, said in its latest disclosure that the three articles contained defamatory imputations and falsely portrayed the company, PVI, and certain individuals as involved in illegal, criminal, or fraudulent acts. It said their publication appeared to be an “orchestrated scheme calculated to malign and discredit” the company and individuals.

The development further escalates a feud that has already spilled into regulatory proceedings and competing allegations of corporate mismanagement.

LFM has also reportedly been weighing more fundamental changes to the business, including a possible sale or separation of its flour milling operations.

LFM said it would provide further disclosures as the cyber libel complaint progresses. – Rappler.com

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