Rome, Italy 26/02/2014
Although we hail the
Supreme Court headed by Aquino appointed Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines rightfully
removed a few of the patently unconstitutional and repressive aspects of RA
10175, including provisions on giving government the power to collect and
monitor real-time data, as well as to take down websites or online content it
deems violative of the law without court warrant, we still consider the law as
an assault on the last democratic bastion of freedom of speech and expression
because the provision on the online libel which was inserted by Sen. Sotto to
stem criticism against him was retained and together with the other controversial
provisions of the law, was upheld by the high court as “constitutional”.
This law is a
clear violation of THE 1987
CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ARTICLE III BILL OF
RTIGHTS Section 4. No law shall be passed abridging
the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of
grievances.
At the very moment when criticism of government iniquity is of utmost importance, the Aquino administration flouts our fundamental rights
by pushing for the constitutionality of online libel under Republic Act No.
10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
Members of the press are very familiar with
criminal libel as an instrument of the powerful, influential and moneyed to
threaten and cow them to silence. Many a journalist has paid a heavy price for
defying such threats and simply doing their job. Media groups have been
campaigning for years to decriminalize libel, as it creates a “chilling effect”
on journalists and impedes on our constitutionally-protected freedom of the
press and expression. The United Nations Human Rights Committee, in October
2011, even agreed with the Philippine media advocacy and human rights groups,
and called our existing libel law “excessive” and violative of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in which the Philippine
government is a signatory. (Pinoy Weekly
24 Feb. 2014)
For the past three years, the administration has
clearly wielded a strong influence on the dominant media. To bolster its image
and deflect criticism, the administration has employed the most cunning of
public relations and social media teams to direct the public attention away
from the increasing poverty and destitution among Filipinos.
We must remember that the Aquino administration,
specifically its Department of Justice, actively campaigned to have the law
passed and nodded on by the high court says much about the Presidency’s
contempt for criticism. Now, with RA 10175, it wields another weapon against
criticism: the threat of online libel, the force of criminal prosecution
against those who would criticize the President and its policies.
The Internet, despite its
still-limited reach, has been the democratic space where the alternative press
often disseminates its stories. Many citizens use it to express their own
criticisms of the government and the political and economic system. Workers,
for instance, take to the Internet to express their criticism of their
employers and their poor labor conditions. Students and the youth have been
known to extensively use the Internet to criticize school officials and
administrators as well as critique the government’s policy of budget cuts to
education. Other sectors have also maximized the Internet to advocate for their
basic democratic rights. The online medium, meanwhile, has also been used as a
tool for organizing protest, as evidenced by the huge, anti-pork barrel
protests last year. (Pinoy Weekly 24 Feb.
2014)
The timing of the Supreme Court’s
upholding of the very contested law, clearly show that the Aquino
Administration needs the RA 10175 as legal shield from wrath of the people.
For this, we, the netizens must
condemm and resist this e-martial law declared by President BS Aquino against
the people.
Read more at http://pinoyweekly.org/new/2014/02/resist-aquinos-e-martial-law/
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