From:
manilastandardtoday
Sen.
Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto has admitted to the American news organization CBS News
that he was one of two senators who inserted the libel clause in the
recently-enacted Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, which President Aquino
signed into law last Sept. 12.
“Yes,
I did it. I inserted the provision on libel. Because I believe in it and I
don’t think there’s any additional harm,” said Sotto in the CBS News article by
Barnaby Lo.
The
article noted, however, that “Sotto may actually have an axe to grind with the
Filipino online community after coming under fire for allegedly plagiarizing an
American blogger and the late Sen. Robert Kennedy for his speeches against a
controversial family planning and reproductive health bill.”
Sotto
had claimed that the libel clause was not meant to abridge free speech, but
only to protect ordinary people who are “victims of online attacks, character
assassination and the like.”
But
Sen. Teofisto Guingona disagrees, warning that the Cybercrime Law is a clear
suppresses of the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the
Constitution.
“While
libel committed through traditional print media is punishable by up to four
years and two months of imprisonment, online libel is punishable by a shocking
12-year imprisonment,” Guingona said.
Guingona
said a person can now be prosecuted for libel under the Revised Penal Code and
libel under the Cybercrime Prevention Ac, which is contrary to the 1987
Constitution provision on double jeopardy. ###
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