Its so ridiculous that the Philippines claiming to be a democratic republic where freedom of expression is said to be enjoyed by its citizens would draft and pass a law through its Congress & approved by the current president that actually tramps and steps on the said freedom.
RA 10175 Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 which President Aquino signed on Sept. 12,2012 into Law.
Surprising considering that the mother of the current president, former President Corazon Aquino is touted to be the one who brought Democracy back to the country when the former dictator Marcos was deposed in a peaceful revolution in '86.
But then again I'm not that shocked considering that President Aquino is now in the same party with President Marcos's son Senator Bong Bong Marcos.Shades of Sleeping with the enemy hehehe.
And going back to the RA 10175, What makes it so undemocratic is the libel penalty provisions in it. With it just about any person can be liable, anyone can now be charged with a crime—even if you just like, re tweet or comment on FB or blog post containing criticisms.
This and a lot more contents that encroaches on freedom of expression which irritates me and a whole bunch of other netizens, and the fact that the provision on Libel was basically added last minute by no other than Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III who admitted having a hand in the inclusion of libel as a crime punishable under the Cybercrime Prevention Act. “Libel is a crime".
In which case maybe rooted on the plagiarism controversy that he was involved in some months back when allegedly he copied a part of his speech against the Reproductive Health Law from an American blogger, Then after a week he is then said to have copied word for word and translated to Filipino Senator Kennedy's speech .
Netizens were the ones who exposed this and I am just wondering if its an act of vendetta to the people that opposed and exposed him why the libel thingie was included last minute.
Certain senators are working right now to repeal the said law thru the Supreme Court. Notably Senator Teofisto Guingona III .I am just hoping this thing is repealed before its too late. But no matter this thing has sent us back to the Dark Ages . I mean seriously one could be imprisoned because of a comment in Facebook and have a criminal record at that.
Which got me to thinking because of this I now have a Gag order on GaGa . Lady Gorgon may just file a lawsuit against me and I could be thrown in jail LOL
