By VANNE ELAINE P. TERRAZOLA
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said yesterday it might be difficult to decriminalize libel, noting that lying is also prohibited in the Bible.
Sotto shared his view on the matter after Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. appealed for a piece of legislation that would just fine individuals who make and publish defamatory statements.
“Let’s decriminalize libel, Senate President Sotto. The money damages alone are far, far, far, far more painful,” Locsin posted on Twitter, retweeting a netizen’s appeal for the decriminalization of libel.
Sotto responded, “I wish it were that easy.”
“Grandpa was the author of the 1946 Press Freedom Law. Unfortunately, lying (libel) is found in the Ten Commandments,” he added.
Sotto referred to the Republic Act No. 53, authored by Sen. Vicente Yap Sotto, which protects journalists from being compelled to name the source of their information unless the disclosure is required by the interest of the state.
Sotto shared his reservations on the proposal to decriminalize libel, citing its possible implications.
“(It’s) Simple. Bearing false witness against thy number is a higher law from God than any other law of man. Ten Commandments cannot be amended. Lying in court is perjury. Lying in congressional investigations can lead to detention. Otherwise, what will happen? Even a bouncing check is a kind of lying that can mean imprisonment. Do we decriminalize all these?” he pointed out.
Sotto and Locsin’s exchange came after a Manila Regional Trial Court’s guilty verdict on the cyber libel case against veteran journalist and Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos last Monday.
The conviction revived long-time calls for the review of existing laws against libel, raising anew perceived threats on press freedom.
The Revised Penal Code defines libel as the “public and malicious imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstance tending to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.”
It punishes the crime of libel by imprisonment of at least six months to six years.