Online Libel; IBP glad of ruling; bloggers saddened

CEBU, Philippines - The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) – Cebu City Chapter has welcomed the Supreme Court decision that declared as constitutional Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, which criminalizes online libel.

IBP – Cebu City Chapter President Elaine Bathan said the group welcomes the decision because even a fundamental freedom like the right to freedom of expression “should still besubject to limitation and should not be exercised with malice and bad faith.”

“We welcome this development on the passage of Cybercrime Libel as a means to curtail the abuses of some people in the guise of exercising their freedom of expression in the Internet which has now become a faster source of media and publication,” Bathan’s text message to The FREEMAN reads.

Still, Bathan said the SC should have qualified its ruling further because if a comment to a post was made with malice and bad faith then the person commenting participated in the commission of the crime.

The SC has ruled that online libel is constitutional with respect to the original author of the post but the same is unconstitutional if it penalizes those who “simply receive the post and react to it.”

 â€œAs to the declaration of the SC that those who receive and comment on such libelous statement should not be held accountable, we believe that the SC should have made a qualification because if the comment was made with malice and bad faith then that persons has joined the author in the commission of such libelous and should be held accountable though possibly in a lesser degree of participation,” Bathan said.

While the lawyers welcome the development, the Cebu Bloggers Society feels otherwise. 

Xerxes Chua, the group’s Vice President for Marketing, claimed that the provision restrains him, as well as other Netizens, from exercising his freedom of expression.

“As a blogger, I believe my right to freedom of expression online is savagedly suppressed. The gravity of the punishment, which is a criminal offense is just too much. Very overrated. If someone will ask me how democratic the Philippines is, I will be thinking twice with my answer. I can sense E-Martial Law coming,” he said in a message sent to The FREEMAN.

CBS President Ruben Licera Jr. also posted as cover photo on his Facebook account a line from the Philippine Internet Freedom Alliance that reads, “Stop Cyber Martial Law… Respect our right to free speech, privacy and information. Prevent dictatorship. Protect democracy.”

But Ramon Hiponia, a new blogger, supports the SC ruling, saying it only calls for a more responsible use of social media.

“This (the responsible use of social media) is what our generation must be informed with. It does not mean you can’t react. It does not mean you have lost your freedom per se. But at least this would teach us and guide us on responsible social media posting,” Hiponia said. — (FREEMAN)