Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista officially filed cybercrime complaints against Mar Valbuena, president of transport group Manibela, and Ira Panganiban, a journalist for their "untruthful" corruption claims.

Bautista personally went to the Department of Justice office on Tuesday to file the charges. Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty received the complaint.

The Transportation chief said both Valbuena and Panganiban violated Article 355 about Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code of the Republic Act 10175 or CyberCrime Prevention Act.

"I cannot allow myself to be the subject of another's desperate attempt to attain fame, especially when malicious, baseless, and untruthful statements are hurled against me if only to put a blemish on my untarnished track record and reputation of excellence and integrity," Bautista said in the charge sheet.

Amid the accusations, Bautista maintained that he was never a part of the corruption and bribery schemes in the Department of Transportation and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board or LTFRB.

"For the record, I have never received any bribe of some sort, much less used any amount of money to maintain my position as Secretary of the DOTr," he said.

Responding to the Secretary's complaint, Valbuena, through a recorded video message, said he is ready to face Bautista.

"That's why I went to Crame because I also have a family and I want people to know what you're doing, don't be sensitive because you are a public official. When you are accused, you have to answer. Are you burned by what the whistleblower revealed?

Don't hang around anymore. I am ready to face you anywhere," Valbuena said in Tagalog.

Last week, Manibela, the same group leading the recent transport strike, mounted a press conference to serve as a platform for Jeffrey Tumbado, a former executive assistant at the LTFRB, to blow the whistle against his former boss.

Tumbado claimed that the already suspended LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz the II was involved in the collection of some P5 million from transactions to expedite the opening of new routes or franchises.

He also divulged that every LTFRB regional director was required to remit a monthly quota of P2 million, which brought the monthly collection to P30 million. Tumbado, however, recanted his allegations.

Meanwhile, Panganiban said he was not aware where Bautista's complaint came from, saying that he was just plainly reporting the news "just like everyone else."

"I don't know where he is coming from because I was just reporting the news just like everyone else. What I have been posting were documents of both accusations and recantation of Jeff Tumbado. If you say libel or defamation, that's not it," Panganiban said in a separate reaction video.

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