By Caryl Gonzales

Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros filed a bill decriminalizing libel to defend press freedom as it has been "weaponized to stifle very basic fundamental rights."

Hontiveros noted that libel laws had been used to constantly attack "many of our freedoms," particularly the freedom of the press.

In the explanatory note, it said the libel laws in recent years have also been used and abused by private parties to advance their interests and by public personalities to shield themselves from scrutiny, even on matters of public concern.

"The rise and prevalence of social media as a primary medium of communication has led to the further weaponization of libel laws against the press and active citizenship," she added.

The filing of the Senate Bill No. 1593 coincided with Baguio-based journalist Frank Cimatu of cyber libel over a defamatory Facebook post way back in 2017 about former Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Manny Piñol's alleged corruption.

The Facebook post posted five years ago read, "Agri Sec got rich by 21 M in 6 months. Bird flu pa more." 

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 93 sentenced Cimatu to between six months and five years, five months, and 11 days of prison and ordered him to pay the former agriculture secretary P300,000 for "moral damages."

With this, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) backs Hontiveros' move to decriminalize libel in the country.

In an interview, NUJP President Jonathan de Santos claimed they have been campaigning for this for decades, noting that libel or criminal libel is incompatible with the Philippines' principles which are supposedly democratic.

“We have free speech pero meron tayong mga kasama, hindi lang sa industriya, mga kababayan nga natin na pwede silang makulong for basically for their reporting, para sa kanilang freedom of expression so medyo harsh talaga siya,” De Santos said.

["We have free speech, but we have our countrymen, not only in the industry, who can be jailed basically for their reporting, for their freedom of expression, so it is quite harsh,"]

Senator Raffy Tulfo also expressed his support to protect journalists from libel but only those from established news organizations, not those who spread disinformation.

The United Nations Committee on Human Rights stated that the Philippines' libel law was "excessive," and the continued libel criminalization in the country violated its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.