DECRIMINALIZE LIBEL, JOURNALISTS’ GROUP DEMANDS ANEW

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) on Monday said the government’s persecution of news website Rappler and its CEO, Maria Ressa, underscored the urgent need to decriminalize libel.

In a statement, the group also highlighted the chilling effect of libel charges on journalists, citing the “unfortunate decision” of Philstar.com on Saturday to take down a 17-year-old report about Wilfredo Keng after the businessman’s camp reportedly raised the possibility of legal action.

In a separate statement, the online edition of the Philippine Star said its decision to take down the 2002 report, “Influential businessman eyed in ex-councilor’s slay,” was done in light of recent events and was seen as a “prudent course of action.”

With the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 still unexplored, Philstar.com said it was unclear if any live digital element of the story could be used against it.

‘Actionable’

Keng filed a libel complaint against Ressa with the National Bureau of Investigation in 2017 over a 2012 Rappler report linking him to impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Rappler updated the report in 2014, two years after the en- actment of the cyberlibel law, making it “actionable,” according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which revived the case in January and approved the filing of charges against Ressa.

Ressa was arrested after office hours on Wednesday, but was allowed bail by the Manila Regional Trial Court the next day.

Ressa’s lawyer JJ Disini said on Monday that she would ask the court to dismiss the case against her in a filing this week.

The NUJP said the Philstar.com takedown was an inevitable consequence of the government’s twisting of the law to intimidate journalists.

“It is bad enough that a dangerously vindictive government has mangled the law beyond recognition in its obsession to shut down a critical news outfit,” the group said.

“But unless stopped, these machinations will eventually endanger not only Rappler or the independent Philippine media, but each and every Filipino who has ever posted anything online,” it said.

DOJ-NBI stance questioned

The group also slammed the position of the DOJ and the NBI that an alleged defamatory statement made online continues to be a crime unless taken down.

“[It] means that anything and everything anyone posts anywhere on the web can be cause for criminal prosecution,” the group said. “This would, in effect, spell the death of freedom of expression and of the press, without which the triumph of tyranny would be inevitable.”

Philippine journalists and news groups have been calling for the decriminalization of libel for decades.

Though efforts have been made in Congress, proposals to make libel a purely civil offense have largely been ignored.

Acknowledging the “extreme difficulty” of getting Congress to heed its longtime demand, the NUJP said the “antediluvian libel law” and its threat of jail time has been a weapon of choice against journalists who seek to hold public officials accountable.

“We address our call not only to the community of independent Filipino journalists but to each and every Filipino, regardless of persuasion, who values their freedom of expression and their right to know,” the group said.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, a lawyer, said on Monday that “personally,” he favored decriminalizing libel.

Panelo said libel was an “ordinary crime” that carried “small penalties.”

He said it was difficult to secure a conviction against a journalist in a libel suit because it was difficult to prove malice.