NEO NATHANIEL M.

LIWANAG
GRADE 8- MATAPAT

EDITORIAL

Cybercrime law violates

freedom of
expression
Cebu Daily News / 06:24 AM September 21, 2012

Today we remember the 40th year

anniversary of the declaration of Martial
Law by President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Among the first victims of Martial Law was

the freedom of expression.
Twenty-six years after the end of this
malignant era, we should be celebrating a
priceless gift of liberty.
criminal penalties for libel under the
Revised Penal Code.
Punishing online libel a degree higher than
ordinary libel is grievous aggravation.

However, last Sept. 12, the present
occupant of Malacaang signed into law
something that brings to life the ghost of
Martial Law the draconian Cybercrime
Prevention Law or Republic Act 10175.
The authors and supporters of this law
claim that the law is needed to regulate
how people behave in cyberspace.
Rapid technology advancement has
revolutionized how people share ideas on
line, especially through social media. The
power of the Internet helped topple
dictators in the Middle East and North Africa
last year.
In the Philippines, with Internet penetration
at 30 million or about 30 percent of the
population, on line and social media has
become a potent force.
Including online libel for defamatory
utterances and publications sets back the
campaign to strike out the 80-year-old
Libel has been used as a harassment tool
by public officials against journalists and
citizens who criticize the excesses and
misconduct of those in power.
Worse, the new law has a take down
provision which would give the executive
department through the Department of
Justice powers to issue an order to restrict
or block access to computer data
considered as prima facie evidence in
violation of the laws provisions.
The inclusion of libel and the take down
provisions of the Cybercrime Prevention
Law strikes at the heart of the
constitutionally protected freedom of
expression.
This right of a free press prohibits the State
from using its powers to make good threats
of subsequent punishment or censorship of
published or uttered ideas from any citizen.
Article 3, sec. 4 of the 1987 Constitution
clearly states that No law shall be passed
abridging the freedom of speech, of
expression, or of the press, or the right of
the people to assemble and petition the
government for redress of grievances.

On this day of remembrance, the call for

vigilance against enemies of freedom and
democracy gains more relevance.

If some quarters in high government want

to police cyberspace because it views it as
the new wild wild west, then it falls on all
freedom-loving Filipinos, especially
journalists, bloggers, and millions of online
social media users to band together as
cyber cowboys, ready to lasso the wayward
sheriff.