[Re-post] LEGAL ARTICLE ━━━ᘠ♥ᘡ━━ᘠღᘡ━━ᘠ♥ᘡ━━ᘠღᘡ━━ᘠ♥ᘡ━━━━ CYBER-BULLIES BEWARE: GREATER PENALTY FOR ONLINE LIBEL In Disini Jr. et al. vs. The Secretary of Justice promulgated last February 18, 2014, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of an increased penalty for online libel, specifically, one degree higher than for printed or paper libel. What does this mean, in laymans terms? 1. A person convicted of online libel shall be imposed a penalty of imprisonment ranging from SIX YEARS ONE DAY TO 10 YEARS (N.B. Printed libel has a penalty of 6mos1day to 4yrs2mos) 2. He CANNOT apply for probation; meaning, tiyak na makukulong AND at the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa even while the case is on appeal 3. The prescriptive period for the offence increases to 10 years; meaning, a victim can sue for cyberlibel in February 2024 for an online libel committed today 4. A person convicted of online libel is imposed the accessory penalty of temporary absolute perpetual disqualification; meaning: (i) he shall be removed from public office immediately; (ii) he shall lose his right to vote during the period of his imprisonment; and (iii) he shall be disqualified to run for public office during the period of his imprisonment. Just to reiterate what i have posted in previous articles (N.B. Look for my February 20, 2014 post), online bloggers should HAVE NO FEAR about criticising public officials and public figures. The only way that you can be convicted for cyberlibel against the latter is if it is proven that the defamatory statement was made with ACTUAL MALICE, i.e. with knowledge that it was false or with a reckless disregard of whether it was false or not. But please do BE CAREFUL about destroying the reputation of private individuals like your friends, relatives, classmates, co-employees and the like. Freedom of speech is not an absolute right, and payback is a b*tch. BE A RESPONSIBLE NETIZEN! ━━━ᘠ♥ᘡ━━ᘠღᘡ━━ᘠ♥ᘡ━━ᘠღᘡ━━ᘠ♥ᘡ━━━━
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 15:42:20 +0000
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