Author Topic: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG  (Read 6721 times)

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Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« on: February 26, 2019, 06:46:21 PM »

Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler – Te, FLAG

Te says the Supreme Court finalized the Cybercrime Law only on April 22, 2014, which means that in February 2014 when the article was supposedly republished, there was no applicable law

Lian Buan
February 26, 2019
 

CYBER LIBEL. Rappler CEO Maria Ressa speaks to the media. File photo by Martin San Diego/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – Human rights lawyer and former Supreme Court (SC) spokesman Theodore Te, along with lawyers of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), filed a Motion to Quash before the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 46 on Tuesday, February 26, seeking a dismissal of the cyber libel case against Rappler, CEO Maria Ressa, and former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr.

Te, who is now handling the cyber libel case, will take on the Department of Justice (DOJ) in its charge against the news company.

The article in question, written by Santos, was published in May 2012 or 4 months before the cybercrime law was enacted in September 2012. However, because of a typographical error ("evasion" was misspelled as "evation"), a correction was made on February 19, 2014. The updated article in 2014, according to the DOJ, is covered by the republication rule – meaning, the cybercrime law had already taken effect and was applicable.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

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Re: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2019, 06:49:13 PM »

Temporary Restraining Order. The SC, however, issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the law on October 9, 2012, and held oral arguments. The SC came out with a decision on February 11, 2014, or 8 days before the supposed republication, but motions for reconsideration were filed, which the High Court resolved with finality only on April 22, 2014, Te pointed out.

“During the duration of this TRO – October 9, 2012 continuously until April 22, 2014 – there was effectively no RA 10175. That is the legal, practical, and actual effect of the Supreme Court’s TRO. The alleged republication was done on February 19, 2014, when the TRO was still in effect,” said the motion.

Republication rule. In its charge sheet, the DOJ highlights the word “republish” in order to apply the Cybercrime Law which the justice department assumed to have been in effect on February 19, 2014, the supposed republication date.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

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Re: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2019, 06:50:25 PM »

The DOJ used an SC decision from 1988 where the High Court had to rule which lower court has jurisdiction over a newspaper article, and in so doing, adopted the multiple publication rule.

Te, however, noted that the said decision came from the SC Third Division and not the en banc.

“It is a Third Division decision that binds only the parties thereto. It is canonical that only decisions of the Supreme Court En Banc are vested with authoritativeness or precedential character,” the motion said.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

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Re: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2019, 06:53:36 PM »


MOTION TO QUASH. On February 26, 2019, the Manila RTC Branch 46 receives a Motion to Quash from the lawyers of Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos for the cyberlibel case filed by William Keng. Photo by LeAnne Jazul/Rappler

The motion also argued that the Supreme Court actually struck out as unconstitutional the part of the Cybercrime Law that punishes “aiding and abetting” in a case of cyber libel. The en banc struck it out for infringing too much on the freedom of speech.

The motion argued that the act of sharing on the internet and the act of republishing are similar in some ways.

“This is a repudiation of the 'multiple republication' principle for online media and cyber libel because otherwise each act of 'sharing' a defamatory statement would then constitute a separate and distinct act of libel, a proposition which the Court rejected by its striking down of section 5 of RA 10175,” the motion said.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

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Re: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2019, 06:55:15 PM »

The motion also argued that the typographical corrections did not constitute republication, based on several decisions from the United States, one of which said: “to treat the changes as republications would be inappropriate and defeat the beneficial purposes of the single publication rule.”

In Atkinson v. McLaughlin, for example, the District Court of North Dakota employed the "test of substantial modification" in the context of republication. Quoting from the ruling, the motion said: "However, even under the single publication rule, the courts have recognized that a website may be republished and create a new cause of action for defamation if the website is substantially modified. Republication triggers the start of a new statute of limitations and occurs upon a separate aggregate publication from the original, on a different occasion, which is not merely a delayed circulation of the original edition...”

“In the absence of controlling Philippine jurisprudence, American case law is persuasive and provides guidance for this court in addressing this specific issue of first impression,” said the motion.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

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Re: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« Reply #5 on: February 26, 2019, 06:56:41 PM »

Charging Rappler as a company

The DOJ did not only charge Ressa and Santos, it also charged Rappler as a company.

The motion said that Section 9 of the Cybercrime Law laid down rules for a corporation to be held liable, such as when the crime was committed by a natural person for the benefit of the juridical person or the company.

“The instant Information may be scoured at length for any of the relevant elements of liability for a corporate entity under section 9 and none will be found,” the motion said.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

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Re: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2019, 06:57:35 PM »

The DOJ dismissed complaints against other editors and directors of Rappler and proceeded to charge only Ressa, who was not involved in the editing or handling of Santos’ article.

“The dismissal of the complaint as against all corporate officers, except accused Ressa, is telling,” said the motion.

Ressa and Santos are scheduled to be arraigned on March 1.

In charging Rappler, the DOJ’s interpretation of the cybercrime law has now made it possible for online publications to be sued within 12 years of a story's publication. The ordinary libel charge under the Revised Penal Code prescribes in one year and not 12.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

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Re: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« Reply #7 on: February 26, 2019, 06:58:53 PM »

Rappler has always argued that the prescription for cyber libel should still be one year, because the cybercrime law only increased the penalty of cyber libel, with the Supreme Court saying in its decision that “cyber libel is not a new crme.”

“Indeed, cyber libel is actually not a new crime since Article 353, in relation to Article 355 of the penal code, already punishes it. In effect, Section 4 (c) (4) above merely affirms that online defamation constitutes ‘similar means’ for ‘committing libel,’” said the motion. – Rappler.com

https://www.rappler.com/

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

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Re: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« Reply #8 on: February 26, 2019, 07:08:47 PM »

THOUGHT LEADERS
[OPINION | NEWSPOINT]

The ambush of Maria Ressa

Show her up to be vulnerable, subdue her, and a chill probably goes around enough to help ease the way for the authoritarian rule he has been itching to impose. Well, knowing Maria Ressa, she’s not one easily subdued.

Vergel O. Santos
February 16, 2019
             
The arrest of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa was very much in keeping with the high-handed ways of the Duterte presidency: it looked more like an ambush. By being served the warrant past court-business hours, she was denied her prompt right to bail and made to spend the night in detention. She went free on bail the next day.

It’s an old trick that appears to have become a reflex show of police power, a sort of institutional habit, as such free of malice and viciousness, relatively. It is certainly not the case with Ressa, however. She has been picked on and cast in a larger and darker scheme.

As she herself warned at the very moment of her arrest, “We are going to new lows...we should be worried.”

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

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Re: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« Reply #9 on: February 26, 2019, 07:11:17 PM »



Doubtless she intended her warning to carry beyond the news profession. She knows the price of her own stature, and she also knows Duterte. Being a press-freedom champion of world renown – she was among the journalists honored in Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2018 – has made her a prime target for him: show her up to be vulnerable, subdue her, and a chill probably goes around enough to help ease the way for the authoritarian rule he has been itching to impose. Well, knowing Maria Ressa, she’s not one easily subdued.

But neither is Duterte one easily dissuaded, not by reason, not by conscience, not by the polls. Authoritarianism is for him a narcissistic fixation.

In fact, he began dragging the nation down that road upon taking power and has succeeded completely with Mindanao, his own home island, the largest of the archipelago’s 3 main ones. Mindanao came under martial rule when a war broke out in Marawi City nearly two years ago between government forces and a band of outlaws, separatists, and terrorists; it has remained so to this day, amid the ever-so-slow cleanup and rehabilitation of that bombed-out city.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

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Re: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« Reply #10 on: February 26, 2019, 07:14:58 PM »

The flimsy circumstances surrounding Ressa’s arrest have raised speculations that Duterte is desperate to accelerate his drive toward despotism. Indeed, libel – or some pretext of it – does seem a device too well-worn to use for the purpose.

But, having proved effective for them, not to mention being handy, libel has been long favored by people in power, people of wealth and influence, and people who like to keep up pretensions to a ruinable reputation. If it works for the lesser of them how could it not work for Duterte? Not only is he, after all, Chief Executive and Commander in Chief; judging by the vote he gets from Congress and the Supreme Court for his espousals, he has them co-opted. Anyway, I’m not sure about him being desperate. Impatient? Vicious? Mad even? Absolutely, but that’s all in the nature of his pathology.

Unable to accommodate a free and adversarial press in his autocratic mindset, he has held Rappler in particular contempt, in fact voicing his sentiment publicly and all too often, lest his enforcers fall out of alignment to his wishes. Sure enough, even before they were slapped with libel, Rappler and Ressa had already been taken to court – Rappler for a Securities offense, Ressa for tax evasion, both cases concocted, too, she says.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

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Re: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« Reply #11 on: February 26, 2019, 07:16:53 PM »

Those earlier suits having been brought by state agencies directly, Duterte’s apologists are able to do little to dispel suspicions of harassment and intimidation.

Carefully choosing what battles to fight, as does anyone else who knows rudimentary lawyering, Duterte’s main spokesman, Sal Panelo, now makes a big thing of the absence, although only on the face of it, of any such ties as may suggest collusion between his boss and the libel accuser, "a private citizen," he makes sure to point out, conveniently leaving out one compelling element – common cause: both President Duterte and this private citizen are not fond of Rappler or Ressa.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

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Re: Dismiss cyber libel case vs Maria Ressa, Rappler - Te, FLAG
« Reply #12 on: February 26, 2019, 07:18:18 PM »

Panelo also discourses minutely on judicial procedures and, in particular, on how supposedly these were observed faithfully and painstakingly in Rappler’s and Ressa’s cases. And, again, he skips an all-important point – the all-important point: quality of judicial decision-making; in other words, fairness.

That should rank, I must say, among the most serviceable side-stepping tricks Panelo has performed for Duterte and his courts and their beneficiaries – the Marcoses, the Arroyos, the Enriles, the Estradas, and the Revillas, to name only the most deserving. – Rappler.com

https://www.rappler.com/

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=89973.0
Republic Act 8485 (Animal Welfare Act of 1998, Philippines), as amended and strengthened by House  Bill 6893 of 2013--- violation means a maximum of P250,000 fine with a corresponding three-year jail term and a minimum of P30,000 fine and six months imprisonment

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