(CNNPhilippines) A Makati court has found former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV guilty of libel over statements he made against then Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay in 2015, where he accused the latter of bribery and corruption.

The Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 has fined Trillanes P₱100,000 and ordered to pay Binay ₱500,000 in moral damages.

Trillanes claimed in various interviews in April 2015 that the magistrates of the Court of Appeals were bribed to stop the first suspension order issued by the Office of the Ombudsman on Binay over alleged anomalies in the construction of Makati City Hall Building 2.

In one of his statements, he accused Binay of being part of a “family of syndicates.” The former senator filed a resolution then to investigate the alleged “justice for sale” scheme.

The local court ruled that Trillanes “should not have relied on his assumptions and should have refrained from making such grave allegations against the private complainant and his family, until after the proper verification was completed and the appropriate resolution was filed before the Senate.”

“Making and releasing the subject statements absent a serious verification and investigation is recklessness bordering on a disregard of what is true and false,” read the court decision.

The court also said that Trillanes cannot use the freedom of expression or speech as a defense, noting that: “The exercise of any right enshrined in the Bill of Right comes with an equal burden of responsible exercise of that right. The recognition of a right is not free license for the one claiming it to run roughshod over the rights of others.”

It added that the former senator cannot use the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee resolution recommending the filing of charges against the Binays for their supposed involvement in corruption as his vindication in the libel case, pointing out that it’s different from his allegation involving Court of Appeals justices.

For his part, Trillanes said he will do everything to overturn the court’s ruling.