SC rules libel law legal

Echoes From

BY JOHNNY DAYANG

The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of online libel law contained in the controversial Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, otherwise known as Republic Act 10175 amid fears it infringed on internet freedom.

In its decision handed down last February 18 after more than a year, however, SC eliminated a provision in the law that allows the Department of Justice to block access to computer data.

So many are unhappy about the ruling of the highest court. I am one of them. We feel that it was a backward step towards the fulfillment of the freedom of speech in our country.

In various fora, including hearings in the Senate and the House of Representatives, I have always voiced my sentiment against any infringement of press freedom and freedom of speech.

Although the Supreme Court has struck down numerous provisions offensive to the freedom of speech, the decision is still fraught with some frightening implications. Internet users may still be sentenced up to 12 years in prison for posting defamatory on Facebook or Twitter.

The SC has declared four unconstitutional, out of 19 provisions: Section 4 (c) which penalizes the posting of unsolicited commercial communications (or spam); Section 12 which authorizes the collection or recording of traffic data in real time; Section 19 which authorizes the Department of Justice to restrict or block access to suspected computer data; and, Section 7 “as far as it authorizes the prosecution of an offender under online libel and libel under the Revised Penal Code and being in violation of the prohibition against double jeopardy.”

The high court upheld the constitutionality of online libel as cyber crime. It said that online libel was “not unconstitutional with respect to the original author of the post but unconstitutional only when it penalizes those who simply receive the post or react to it.”

I am sure the Pubishers Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PAPI) and the Federation of Provincial Press Clubs of the Philippines, Inc. (FPPCP) will join the many other petitioners questioning the legality of Republict Act 10175 which was signed into law by President Aquino in September 2012 to fight crimes committed on the Internet, like child pornography and cybersex. It was suspended by the Supreme Court.