MANILA, Philippines--Actor Richard Gutierrez filed on Monday a P25-million libel complaint at the Makati City Prosecutor's Office against the editor-in-chief of a showbiz website.

The lead actor of GMA-7's "Zorro," who arrived past 2 p.m. with his family, claimed that Jo-Ann Maglipon, editor in chief of Philippine Entertainment Portal, and two others, maliciously published an article on March 29 that accused him of being in a gun-toting incident with actor Michael Flores.

Gutierrez said that as an endorser of several brands, the article discredited him by portraying him as a "troublemaker" when "no such incident took place."

Also named as respondents in the five-page complaint were Karen Pagsolingan, PEP managing editor and Ferdinand Godinez, staff writer.

PEP earlier posted an apology on its website, acknowledging its mistake of posting the story on the alleged gun-toting incident without getting the statements of Gutierrez and Flores.

Flores had also denied such a confrontation with Gutierrez took place.
Maglipon, however, said in TV interviews they were apologizing for their lapse in failing to get the sides of all involved and were not necessarily saying that the event never took place.

She added that Gutierrez?s mother and manager, Annabelle Rama, had agreed not to press charges against PEP if they would issue an apologize on the website.

Rama, however, said that what she asked for was a complete retraction of the story and not just an apology for lapses.