Under the new Cybercrime Prevention Act
of 2012, signed into effect as of Sept. 12, 2012 by current President
Benigno Aquino III, the freedom of speech of the Philippine
population is under severe threat. This new piece of legislature has
been added to its constitution in order to (among others) “[prohibit]
child pornography, 'cybersex', illegal access to computer systems and
hacking, online identity theft, and spamming”. As these reason are
deemed credible, it is the actions by local government and police
agencies that are of growing concern to the country's population, as
well as going against Philippine government's obligations to
international law.
Freedom of speech comes into play as
the Cybercrime Prevention Act deliberately denounces the right of
expressing one's personal beliefs and critiques of many journalists and bloggers. This new Act has also ratified the penalty of online
libel. Crimes of online libel are subject to a penalty of six years
to twelve years in prison in comparison to its former sentence of six months to a year. Online libel can be anything from
disagreement on political affairs and performance, corruption,
official abuse. In addition, the measures of prosecuting online
libel has very few limitations on it. The Department of Justice is
capable of shutting down any website in violation without a required
warrant. It also impedes upon journalism, as many journalists face
imprisonment for investigative research and circulation. The arrest
of Philippine journalists has been evident in the past months, and
the threat of more arrest can only be assumed under this new
constitutional law. Many call for the the private handling of said
“libel crimes” rather than court proceedings. As in
the years past, we have seen online websites, such as Facebook, being
essential in the demise of dictating regimes in Northern Africa.
Without this tool, organized demonstrations would not have come to
be, leaving multiple populations oppressed under strict regimes. It
seems as if the Philippine government is trying to subdue any
negative controversies among its people and annihilate any sort of
rebellious actions. Should the Philippine government not repeal this
new law, or at least ratify it, the freedom of opinion and expression
of Philippine citizens is being directly denied with heavy
consequences.
Sept. 28th, 2012 12.35
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