A celebrity chef has filed a cyberlibel lawsuit against food heritage advocate John Sherwin Felix for publicly exposing errors in a government-funded cookbook, a case that raises fundamental questions about expert criticism and free speech in the Philippines.
Jam Melchor, author of the cookbook published by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) during Filipino Food Month in April 2025, alleges that Felix committed libel under Republic Act 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, according to Bulatlat.
Felix, founder of Lokalpedia, a visual archive of Philippine food and heritage, received a copy of the book on September 16, 2025. "Not just two or three, more than a dozen actually," he told Bulatlat when asked about the errors he identified. The mistakes included cultural and scientific inaccuracies in a publication meant to preserve Filipino culinary culture.
What prompted Felix to speak publicly was the silence surrounding the book's problems. "This is an official publication under a government agency, and people will treat them as bible truth as they are expected to give accurate information," he explained.
The DTI distributed over 2,000 copies for general circulation, making the stakes particularly high for preserving accurate cultural knowledge. Felix documents local ingredients that are artisanal, overlooked, and endangered, describing Lokalpedia as "my passion project, and perhaps my love letter to the Philippine cuisine."
Supporters argue that "his libel case is something he does not deserve, for he spoke the truth, and there was no malice in pointing out mistakes in published materials," according to organizations backing his defense.
The case illustrates the chilling effect of the ' cyberlibel laws on expert criticism of government-funded work. - and across , defamation laws remain a tool to silence inconvenient voices, even when they speak truth.
