FILIPINOS EXPRESS FEAR OVER e-MARTIAL LAW

MANILA, Philippines - Activists expressed fear about the alleged existence of e-Martial law rule following the arrests of government critics who were also suspected as violators of e-libel law despite the Supreme Court’s temporary suspension of the law’s implementation.

 

Public officials have been using the cybercrime law even if it is not yet effective, to stifle citizens’ right to express indignation against alleged abuses and illegal activities, activists said.

 

In August, 16 nurses were fired after they “liked” a criticism on the management of government-run Taguig-Pateros District Hospital in suburban Taguig, which was posted on Facebook.

• On October 18, Esperlita “Perling” Garcia, 62, president of the Gonzaga Alliance for Environmental Protection and Preservation, was arrested on libel charges, following complaints from Gonzaga Mayor Carlito Pentecostes Jr, whom she criticized on Facebook in April 2011, for his alleged responsibility in the dispersal of anti-mining activists who were meeting in a school compound to plan a rally on April 30 against a joint Chinese and Taiwanese companies that has been operating small-scale mining operations for magnetite sand in Gonzaga, Cagayan province, in northern Luzon.
•  Regional director of the National Bureau of Investigation Hector Eduard Geologo personally arrested her. She was released on Friday after posting a P10,000 bail.
•  In response, anti-mining activists established on October 20 “Cyber-Perling” on Facebook to mobilize support for Garcia.
• Activists who are waging campaigns against illegal mining, illegal gambling, human trafficking and other causes are now behind “Cyber-Perling” — to unanimously fight the implementation of the recently approved anti cybercrime law (Republic Act No 10175).
• “We are now fighting the occurrence of e-Martial law,” said another activist who requested for anonymity.
• Anakbayan, a militant leftist group at the House of Representatives claimed that Garcia’s arrest signalled President Beningo Aquino’s favour for big mining companies.
• Garcia’s posts on Facebook occurred 18 months before the enactment of the country’s anti cybercrime law. The e-libel law punishes online libel with up to 12 years imprisonment.
• In response, Mayor Pentecostes claimed that Garcia has no supporters of her anti-mining campaign, from residents in Gonzaga.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda also said that Garcia’s arrest was based on a libel suit of the Revised Penal Code, not of the anti cybercrime law which is not yet in effect.

Her criticism, however, was posted not on print media but on Facebook, a social media.

In early October, the Supreme Court issued a 120-day temporary restraining order, preventing the laws implementation, following complaints from 15 petitioners who called on the Apex Court to declare the recently approved law unconstitutional.

Source: gulfnews