Charges can be filed vs. slanderers

Dear PAO,
A lady went to our house and claimed that she has an affair with my father. She said demeaning and obscene words against him in front of a lot of people. Later, we found out that everything she said were all lies. May she be held criminally liable for her act?
MC

Dear MC,
In recognition of the value of a person’s honor and reputation, our Revised Penal Code makes it criminal the act of a person in publicly and maliciously imputing a crime, vice or defect, whether real or imaginary or the act, omission, condition, status or circumstance tending to cause the dishonor, discredit or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is already dead. The crimes relating to the uttering of slanderous or defamatory remarks are classified into three: written defamation or libel (Article 355, Revised Penal Code), oral defamation or slander (Article 358, ibid) and defamation by overt acts or slander by deed (Article 359, ibid). These crimes have the following common elements: 1) there must be an imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status or circumstance; 2) that the imputation must be made publicly; 3) that it must be malicious; 4) that the imputation must be directed at a natural or juridical person, or one who is dead; and 5) that the imputation must tend to cause the dishonor, discredit or contempt of the person defamed (Luis B. Reyes, Revised Penal Code, Book II (13th Ed.), page 841).

The lady who went to your house and imputed demeaning and obscene remarks against your father may be held liable for the crime of oral defamation defined and punished under Article 358 of the Revised Penal Code, to wit:
Art. 358. Slander. — Oral defamation shall be punished by arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period if it is of a serious and insulting nature; otherwise the penalty shall be arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos.

Oral defamation or slander has been defined as the speaking of base and defamatory words which tend to prejudice another in his reputation, office, trade, business or means of livelihood (Victorio vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. Nos. L-32836-37 citing 33 Am. Jur. 39). In determining whether the offense committed is serious or slight oral defamation, the sense and grammatical meaning of the utterances and the special circumstances of the case like the social standing or the advanced age of the person defamed are considered (Larobis vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 104189, March 30, 1993).

source:  Manila Times' Column by Atty. Persida Acosta