Amend the Anti-Cybercrime law

Editorial, The Manila Times

The Anti-Cybercrime Law may have been crafted with the best of intentions, but the final version of the bill poses nothing less than a most serious threat to our freedom of speech.

The full name of the law is the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. What it does is expand the coverage of libel.

The biggest mistake committed by the law’s authors was the last-minute insertion of a libel clause, which was not in the original version. That version received widespread support from concerned sectors who recognized that cybercrime is a growing phenomenon that must be arrested. But no one ever thought that the authors of the bill would go as far as to include online libel to the coverage of the law.

It should not be lost on anyone that the Philippines is one of the few countries in the world where libel is considered a criminal offense, and not the civil offense that it should be.

It is incredible that in a country that prides itself as having one of the freest presses in the world, anyone can still be imprisoned for writing his or her thoughts. While no one can disagree that to intentionally ruin another person’s reputation is libelous, the punishment should be commensurate to the gravity of the crime.

For the longest time, local media has been asking, begging, cajoling and demanding that Congress rewrite the country’s libel laws, and many a senator and congressman have said that they would do what was necessary. Instead, the situation has been worsened for media practitioners who are active in cyberspace via their blogs.

It is not just media that is under constant threat by the country’s archaic libel laws. Ordinary citizens who write their opinion in any media are also subject to the extreme penalties of those laws.

Look at the backlog of the country’s court cases. There is a fair percentage of one party accusing another of libel, thereby seeking to imprison that offending party. Were these cases civil suits, judgments would have been rendered quicker. Guilty parties would have to pay civil damages. Imprisoning anyone for writing any falsehood would hurt the guilty party where it hurts most—his or her pocket. But no one need spend so much as a minute in jail for a crime that causes no physical harm.

In Vietnam this week, three bloggers were jailed for “anti-state propaganda.” Is this what the country’s lawmakers want to happen here? If the law is not amended ASAP, that most sacred freedom of speech will be curtailed to the point that the Philippines may as well declare itself a communist or fascist state where no one is allowed to speak his or her mind.

They may deny it until hell freezes over, but the new law actually increases the legal punishments for libel. Where before the penalty for printed libel was six months and one day to four years and two months’ imprisonment under the Revised Penal Code, the new law would imprison anyone convicted of committing libel in cyberspace to six years and one day up to 12 years.

The law as it is written will have a chilling effect on the country’s growing number of bloggers who are also considered as citizen journalists. The situation will be worse than the martial law era when only “the true, the good and the beautiful” could be written about the Marcoses.

Take the anti-cybercrime law to the extreme. Imagine a young man who has just turned 18. He is now legally an adult. In a fit of anger, he blasts his neighbor in his Facebook page, calling that person all sorts of names. Under the anti-cybercrime law, he can be imprisoned and may not be released until his 30th birthday.

Ridiculous perhaps, but it’s the law.

The Supreme Court to hear challenge

Of the country’s lawmakers, it appears that only Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona recognizes the dangers inherent in the libel clause of the anti-cybercrime law. He has therefore promised to challenge the new law before the Supreme Court.

There may still be time to take corrective measures since the bill was signed into law by President Aquino only last September 12. Its implementing laws and guidelines will be drafted by an inter-agency body within 90 days from that date.

Under a worst-case scenario where Guingona’s contesting of the law fails to bear fruit, then media can only hope that the guidelines be most specific about what constitutes online libel. Muzzling anyone from using the electronic media to speak his or her mind is the worst thing that can happen.

For the record, The Manila Times does not condone the wanton destruction of a person’s reputation through the use of print or electronic media. Anyone who spreads lies and half truths about other parties should receive reasonable punishment. But even a minute in prison is already unjust and unreasonable punishment in our book.

Draconian measure

By Bong Austero

On the same week that people of a certain age went into reflection mode to remember the horrors that befell this country 40 years ago, the President of the Republic signed the Cybercrime Prevention Law.

On the same week that people swore “never again” as they relived the dark years of the dictatorship when citizens were denied civil liberties—when freedom of expression was reduced to a theoretical concept that people pined for because speaking about or criticizing the excesses of government could mean summary execution or detention—the electronic version of martial law went into effect in the country.

How did this happen in a country that is supposed to be a bastion of democracy and at a time when the prevailing order rose to power on the strength of its much avowed defense of civil liberties?

The law sneaked through both houses of Congress surreptitiously.

Netizens and civil rights activists were caught flatfooted —they, along with everyone else in this country, simply woke up middle of last week to learn that their right to privacy has been whittled down. Worse, one can now be charged with a crime called electronic libel, which carries a penalty more onerous than ordinary libel. Under our current penal code, a writer, editor, or publisher who is found guilty of ordinary libel could be meted out a jail term of six months and one day to four years and two months. Thanks to the new cybercrime law, anyone who makes a comment in Facebook or Twitter or on a blog that is deemed libelous could be jailed for a minimum of six years and one day up to 12 years. This makes the person ineligible for parole since the minimum penalty is beyond six months. The proponents of the new law have made sure that anyone who would be convicted of the crime of electronic libel would have to serve a jail term.

This happened under the reign of the son of the mother of democracy in this country.

I am at a loss as to how something like the cybercrime law could be passed into law given this administration’s supposed staunch commitment to upholding civil liberties. The President is supposed to be surrounded by people who know better when it comes to these matters—there are quite a number of cabinet secretaries who are active netizens; for instance, Secretary Ricky Carandang and Undersecretary Manolo Quezon used to be very active bloggers. Most Cabinet members use Facebook and Twitter a lot. In fact, this government has practically endorsed the use of social networking sites as a means for citizens to get updated on government advisories during calamities and disasters.

There is also the matter of the law being impractical. Do we really want our justice system to be saddled by cases spurned by commentaries in blogs and social networking sites including the frivolous and trivial? Do we really have the means to prosecute everyone who commits electronic libel? If even just a fraction of Filipinos who think Vicente Sotto is unfit to become senator decides to deliberately commit mass electronic libel by maligning the senator in social networking sites, do we have enough resources to make millions accountable? What is the point of having a law if it cannot be implemented anyway?

The timing of the signing of the bill sucks. I don’t think that the senators who voted in favor of the bill did so out of fear that what happened to Sotto would also happen to them. Still, you can’t stop people from speculating that the two events are related.

I agree that there should be a means to police malicious and immature commentary in the Internet. I agree that there are far too many people who seem to treat social networking sites as nothing more but repository of their personal rants and complaints. But we don’t need to hold a gun against everyone’s temple just to make a point. The cybercrime law is just too draconian a response to a relatively minor social problem.

I have been informed that certain civil rights advocates will take the issue to court. I support this move. We must not allow what happened 40 years ago to happen again in this country.

Cybercrime Act extends reach of ‘draconian’, outdated libel laws

By Shaira Panela

It’s a threat to Philippine press freedom.

In no uncertain terms, this is how representatives from local and international media agencies criticized Republic Act No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, which was signed into law last September 12.

Online libel as a crime

Of particular concern to observers is the law’s provision on online libel. Chapter 2, Section 7 states that “all crimes defined and penalized by the Revised Penal Code [RPC]… if committed by, through and with the use of information and communications technologies shall be covered by… this Act.”

As defined in the 82-year-old RPC, libel encompassed mostly traditional communications media. Article 355 of the Code specifically spells out penalties for libel “commited by means of writing, printing, lithography, engraving, radio, phonograph, painting, theatrical exhibition, cinematographic exhibition or any similar means.”

However, the Cybercrime Law now extends the scope of libel beyond these traditional means of communication.

Worse, online libel brings with it stiffer punishments: the law states that the penalties for such online crimes “shall be one degree higher than provided for by the [RPC for libel committed in traditional media].”

‘Draconian’, antiquated RPC

Media organizations and legal experts agree that the law’s provision on online libel has thus given more teeth to the already “draconian” RPC.

“Pinalakas ‘yung libel… Inilipat ‘yung problema sa old media papunta sa new media,” said Luis V. Teodoro, deputy director of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) and former dean of the UP Diliman College of Mass Communications.

Teodoro also said that, even prior to the Cybercrime Law, the RPC’s provisions on libel were already being used against government critics. “Madalas nagagamit ito sa pangha-harass ng mga journalist,” he said.

With the Cybercrime Law in place, Teodoro warned that such harassment could now be extended to bloggers, domain owners, webmasters, chatroom moderators, and even just commenters on third-party websites.

On the other hand, Atty. JJ Disini, UP College of Law professor said, “Online libel was already explicitly recognized by the Supreme Court in 2010. The new cybercrime law doesn’t affect it. In fact the SC protected those accused of libel by restricting the ability of victims to choose the place where they will file the case.”

“(The Cybercrime Law) is unecessary. Sa tingin ko, most of what this law penalizes ay nasa batas na natin —tulad ng child pornography,” Teodoro said.

International solidarity

Media organizations in the Philippines and abroad have aired similar concerns over the Cybercrime Law.

In a statement, the CMFR said that the passing of the Act “suggests how restrictive rather than expansive is the mindset of the country’s legislators, and of Mr. Aquino himself when it comes to enshrining in the law those principles—accountability and transparency, press freedom and free expression, etc.—to which he has repeatedly declared he is committed.”

Further, Teodoro told GMA News in a phone interview that the “fundamental problem is that legislators are not committed” to providing laws to promote the freedom of expression, and information.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and the Burgos Media Center shared similar sentiments.

“Compare the haste with which this measure and the Data Privacy Act became law, compared to Congress’ lethargy on a bill that President Benigno Aquino III has repeatedly declared a priority yet never lifted a finger to help shepherd through the legislative mill – the Freedom of Information Act – and it becomes all too apparent that this president never meant anything he said with respect to our rights and our freedoms,” the NUJP pointed out. (See related report.)

“The presence of the decayed idea of libel in the crimes enlisted in the bill may be used to attack not only the cyberpress members but also to the progressive netizens like activists and political bloggers. Through this law, the Trapos can now easily file charges against ‘critics by claiming that cyber journalist have threatened their life and property,” the Burgos Media Center added in a separate statement.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) also said that the new law —particularly its provision on libel – “poses a significant threat to press freedom and limits freedom of expression in the Philippines.”

“The IFJ is greatly concerned that the inclusion of online content in the Act could be used to curtail freedom of expression online. We are further concerned that the government of the Philippines continues to delay the passing of the FOI bill, which clearly stands against their stated commitment to press freedom,” it said.

Decriminalizing libel

Media advocates have long been calling for the decriminalization of libel in the Philippines.

In October 2011, no less than the the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) declared Philippine libel laws “excessive” and in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which the Philippines is a signatory.

The commission made this declaration in response to the 2008 complaint filed by Filipino broadcaster Alexander “Alex” Adonis, who spent almost two years in jail for libel.

NUJP and CMFR also cited this declaration in their statements against the Cybercrime Law.

Currently, Senate Bill No. 3244, filed by Senator Gregorio Honasan, seeks to decriminalize libel. But as of August 6, it is still pending in the Committees on Public Information and Mass Media, and Constitutional Amendments, Revision of Codes and Laws.

However, Teodoro believes that the passing of this bill comes with a price.

“(Parang) may ibibigay ‘yung right hand, but the left hand takes away something,” Teodoro said.

Teodoro said that the proposed bill seeks to make the media organizations register before the Securities and Exchange Commission, “in effect, licensing.”

However, Teodoro said that it is “unlikely” that the congress will pass this bill into law in light of current legislation. — TJD, GMA News

A Restrictive Mindset: First Law Since 2000 Affecting Cyberspace Communication

STATEMENT OF THE CENTER FOR MEDIA FREEDOM & RESPONSIBILITY ON THE PASSAGE OF THE CYBERCRIME PREVENTION ACT OF 2012

The successful passage through the legislative mill and their immediate signing into law by President Benigno S. Aquino III of bills affecting the media and their fundamental task of gathering and disseminating information, among them the Data Privacy Act (Republic Act 10173) last August, and the Cybercrime Prevention Act (RA 10175) this September, suggests how restrictive rather than expansive is the mindset of the country’s legislators, and of Mr. Aquino himself when it comes to enshrining in the law those principles—accountability and transparency, press freedom and free expression, etc.—to which he has repeatedly declared he is committed.

RA 10173 and 10175 breezed through both houses of Congress within months after they had been introduced in 2011, and apparently were in no danger of being vetoed once they reached Mr. Aquino’s desk.

The Data Privacy Act, among other provisions, penalizes those in government who release information of a personal nature, which seems a reasonable enough restriction in behalf of the right to privacy—until one recalls that information on the personal lives of government officials often has a bearing on their performance as public servants accountable to the citizenry, and is therefore among the legitimate concerns of the news media.

The Cybercrime Prevention Act, meanwhile, incorporates the 82-year old libel law in the Revised Penal Code (RPC) in including libel among the crimes that may be committed through the use of computers. Under the provisions of the RPC on libel, the penalty for violators is imprisonment of six months for every count of libel committed. Libel as a criminal offense has been used by past administrations as well as local officials today to harass and intimidate journalists. The outstanding example of its use against journalists was the filing by Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo of 11 libel suits against 46 journalists during the disputed presidency of his wife Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. And yet Congress has through the decades ignored the demand from journalists and human rights groups for the decriminalization of libel.

Compare the speed with which RA 10173 and RA 10175 were passed—in both instances with only perfunctory public hearings—with the difficulties Congress is having with passing a Freedom of Information Act (FOI), and with Mr. Aquino’s by now obvious aversion to it.

And yet certain honorable members of Congress have not been miserly with their lip service to the alleged need for an FOI. As for Mr. Aquino, since he became President he has stopped talking about the need for one, after pledging during the 2010 campaign for the Presidency that he was all for it in behalf of transparency and as a means of insuring government accountability. The bottom line, apparently, is that neither Congress nor Mr. Aquino want an FOI act passed, period.

The passage of the Cybercrime Prevention Act also suggests among other possibilities that both Congress and Mr. Aquino have chosen to ignore the 2011 declaration of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) that the Philippine libel law is excessive because it penalizes violators with imprisonment, contrary to the human rights protocols to which the Philippines is a signatory, and therefore must at least be reviewed towards decriminalizing libel. Either that, or the authors of the bills, and Mr. Aquino himself, are unfamiliar with both the UNHRC declaration, as well as with the long-standing demand to decriminalize libel in order to put an end to the use of the libel law to intimidate and silence journalists. Apparently there is little hope that libel will ever be decriminalized, RA 10175 having in effect further strengthened it by widening its application.

Finally, a word of caution. RA 10175 is the first law affecting communication through cyberspace that has been passed in this country since the eCommerce Act of 2000. Prior to its passage, the Philippines had been distinguished among its Asian neighbors for the absence of regulatory legislation affecting the Internet. It can signal the opening of the floodgates of Internet regulation that will affect Filipino netizens, given the restrictive mindset of the country’s leaders. It is a distinct possibility to which journalists and bloggers, ordinary citizen and anyone committed to free expression through whatever medium, should be alert, and must be prepared to combat.