Supreme Court: No TRO on Cyber Law

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Netizens beware. Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, which among other things provides for blocking certain computer data and for longer prison terms for those found to have committed libel, is now in effect.

The cybercrime law becomes effective starting Wednesday because the Supreme Court has not issued a temporary restraining order  sought by various individuals and groups opposed to the new law.

“The Supreme Court did not issue a TRO in the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 petitions which are up for further study,” said Ma. Victoria Gleoresty Guerra, acting chief of the high tribunal’s public information office.

The justices held their regular full court session Tuesday with 10 justices in attendance. Guerra said four justices were absent—Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin and Mariano del Castillo were attending a conference in Croatia, while Roberto Abad was on personal leave.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said RA 10175 would take effect even if it did not have implementing rules and regulations (IRR).

“Effectivity of that law is not conditioned upon the adoption of the IRR and the setting up of the Office of Cybercrime. No legal impediment for the law’s implementation, given the absence of a TRO or injunction,” she said in a text message to reporters.

Seven petitions have been filed in the high court questioning the constitutionality of several provisions of the new law and asking it to issue a TRO.

The law raises to more than 14 years in prison the cumulative penalties for a single act of online libel. It also guarantees imprisonment as the accused is ineligible for probation.

Most disturbing

Fr. Joaquin Bernas, a lawyer, described as “most disturbing to many”  Section 19, which says: “When  computer data [are] prima facie  is found to be in violation of the provisions of this Act, the DOJ [Department of Justice] shall issue an order to restrict or block access to such computer data.”

The petitions were filed by Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, Alab ng Mamamahayag party-list group, businessman Louis Biraogo, a group led by lawyer Harry Roque and columnist Ellen Tordesillas, cyberlaw experts led by lawyer Jose Jesus Disini, a group led by Representatives Raymond Palatino of Kabataan and Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers, and another group led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera.

Guingona said he was disappointed that the Supreme Court deferred the hearing of the petitions.

“I respectfully ask the high tribunal to resolve the issues and act on the petitions immediately to prevent further harm to our cyberusers. The implementation of the law will take back our citizens to the Dark Ages where freedom of speech and expression was not recognized,” he said.

Guingona said he would continue to be with the citizens and Internet users in “this fight to ask the Supreme Court for a temporary restraining order and to finally repeal some vague and oppressive provisions of the newly enacted law.”

“Let me say this once again, the state has no right to gag its citizens and convict them for expressing their thoughts. The Philippines is a democratic country,” Guingona said.

“The Filipinos should never be left to cower on the sidelines—their thoughts and voices should not be shackled by fear and intimidation. The people should not be afraid of its own government,” he added.

Palatino also decried the Supreme Court’s inaction on the petitions. “To that we say, absence makes the Internet grow darker,” he said.

He was referring to online protests against the law, which consisted of blacking out websites and profile pictures in social networking sites.

Black placards

As the justices met, about 100 members of the Philippine Internet Freedom Alliance (Pifa), composed of different organizations of netizens and bloggers, staged a “silent protest” in front of the Supreme Court building on Padre Faura Street in Manila to show their opposition to the law and to call on the justices to issue a TRO.

With their mouths covered with black electrical tapes, the protesters carried plain black placards and a huge streamer printed with the words, “Stop Cyber Martial Law.”

“The cybercrime law is undemocratic and has negative implications on the right to free speech and privacy. The cybercrime law is testing our country—whether we’re truly a democracy or just a democracy on paper,” said Red Tani, president of Filipino Thinkers, a member of Pifa.

Ayeen Karunungan, council member of Dakila-Philippine Collective for Modern Heroism, said it was ironic that while the country was commemorating the 40th year after the declaration of martial law and crying “Never again!” the cybercrime law was signed.

“Real democracy allows the right to free speech as it is fundamental in people’s participation in governance. Enacting the law is the death of that right,” Karunungan said.

Pifa has called on people who could not attend street protests to do “an online blackout” of their websites and social media pages.

On Facebook, some members have replaced their profile pictures with black screens and logos protesting the cybercrime law. Others posted “shaded” comments to demonstrate their fears of possible government censorship of online activities.

Seeking amendments

As online protests intensified, lawmakers moved to amend the cybercrime law on the eve of its implementation.

Sen. Francis Escudero, who earlier admitted to missing the inclusion of libel in the new law when he voted in its favor, on Tuesday filed a bill seeking to repeal the provision.

“[With] today’s modern technology, the crime of libel does not only prove antiquated but to the contrary even overarching as a state tool to restrain freedom of speech,” Escudero said in his explanatory note in Senate Bill No. 3288.

Escudero said this was evident in the passage of the cybercrime law which broadened the coverage of the crime of libel to include even those with the use of “computer system or other similar means that may be devised in the future.”

“This must never be countenanced if only to remain consistent with the constitutionally prescribed freedom of the press,” Escudero said.

Online petitions

The delay in the high court’s  decision on the petitions will give other groups an opportunity to file a similar suit.

Pifa said it would file its petition against RA 10175 on Monday.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said it would file a separate case. It posted its petition online (http://www.nujp.org/no-to-ra10175/) to solicit signatures from individuals and organizations.

Kabataan party-list group set up an online petition (http://www.change.org/petitions/junk-the-cybercrime-prevention-law) calling on President Aquino, Congress and the Supreme Court to junk the law. It had gathered 36,000 signatures as of 4 p.m. Tuesday.

In the House of Representatives, Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño and Palatino filed a bill also seeking to repeal several provisions of the cybercrime law.

One degree higher

Casiño said one of the threats in the new law came from Section 6, which says that all offenses defined under the Revised Penal Code (RPC) and special laws, such as libel, committed through information and communication technologies, shall be charged with a penalty one degree higher than that provided in the code.

“By imposing a penalty one degree higher than what had been stated in the RPC on libel, longer prison terms are guaranteed for persons found to have published or posted material containing libelous remarks online,” Casiño and Palatino said in the explanatory note.

The lawmakers also assailed the provision that allowed government agencies to disclose, preserve, search, seize and destroy computer data.

The law, they further said, would have a “chilling impact” on bloggers, online journalists and other Internet users because websites could be taken down without due process.

Casiño said amending the law would bring it back to its original intention of combating websites on child pornography, data and identity theft, and other Internet scams.

One of the House authors of the law, Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, said he was open to discussions about amending the measure. He said he was amenable to making penalties for libel civil rather than criminal.

Sereno takes oath as the first woman Chief Justice

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MANILA, Philippines—Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno took her oath before President Benigno Aquino in Malacañang Saturday morning, without the senior justices of the Supreme Court.

Apart from Sereno’s family, academicians and Cabinet officials, only Supreme Court Justices Martin Villarama Jr., Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Mariano del Castillo and Bienvenido Reyes turned up at her oath-taking in the Palace.

Besides appointing Sereno as the Philippine’s first woman chief justice, Aquino also broke tradition by not picking the head of the judiciary from among the five most senior justices of the Supreme Court. In seniority, Sereno ranks 13th among the 14 justices on the court. Aquino still has to appoint a 15th member.

The five top senior justices are Antonio Carpio, who acted as chief justice after Renato Corona was removed by impeachment last May 29, Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Arturo Brion and Diosdado Peralta (who declined his nomination for chief justice).

Other candidates on the short list submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council to the President were Carpio, De Castro, Brion and Associate Justice Roberto Abad, along with Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, former representative Ronaldo Zamora and former Ateneo College of Law dean Cesar Villanueva.

Carpio, De Castro, Brion, Abad, Velasco and Peralta were absent from Sereno’s oath-taking, and so were Associate Justices Lucas Bersamin, Jose Perez and Jose Mendoza.

Strategic Communication Secretary Ricky Carandang refused to read any meaning in their absence.

“I don’t think it’s fair to speculate in that way,” Carandang said when reporters asked him if he thought the absence of the senior justices meant they were not taking Sereno’s appointment well.  “As far as I know Sereno’s appointment was very widely viewed as a positive development.”

He added that Sereno was a “person of competence and integrity who, we all hope, will reform the judiciary and make it more responsive to the needs of ordinary people.”

Aquino administered the oath to Sereno, who entered Rizal Hall beaming, in simple, brief rites at around 10 a.m. Saturday. Her husband Mario Jose Sereno, daughter Sophia and son Jose Lorenzo stood behind her.

Also on hand to witness the oath-taking were former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Andres Reyes, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Carandang, and Sereno’s former colleagues at the University of the Philippines’ College of Law, among others.

Sereno, who at 52 has 18  years to serve as chief magistrate, declined media interviews.

She later stopped by the wake for the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, who perished in a plane crash in Masbate last Saturday afternoon, at the Kalayaan Hall.

Hours after Aquino received Robredo’s remains for a two-day wake on Friday, Malacañang afternoon announced Sereno’s appointment, three days ahead of the 90-day deadline that ends Monday.

De Lima, supposedly Malacañang’s “bet’’ for the top Supreme Court post until she was disqualified by the JBC because of a pending administrative case, praised Sereno’s appointment.

“She’s an excellent choice. She’ll be a very good CJ. Her youth, her dynamism and her brilliance would go a long way in ensuring that we can look forward to a judiciary that would be worthy of  the people’s trust,” she told reporters on her way out of the Kalayaan Hall.

After Sereno had her picture taken with the Cabinet officials, De Lima bussed and hugged the new chief justice.

“I congratulated her and then I said that [the] Supreme Court will now be in good hands,” De Lima recalled telling Sereno. “I have no rancor, whatsoever. I just said my piece when the JBC decided to disqualify me… After saying my piece, there was no rancor.”

When told that she could have been in Sereno’s shoes, De Lima let out a laugh and said: “That’s how it is. I guess I did my best in convincing my colleagues in the JBC. It’s just that there were obstacles. That disqualification was one obstacle I did not anticipate.”

Justice Villarama welcomed Sereno’s appointment. “I think she would be a good chief justice, given her talent and integrity. “I wish her luck,” he said in an interview.

He said the other justices failed to make it to the oath-taking because they were in out-of-town “lecture engagements.”  He was confident all the justices would throw their support behind her.

“The court would welcome the new chief justice. We’ll try to cooperate,” he said. “We are all mature; we know what we’re doing. I guess if there is some dissatisfaction, I guess we can solve that; we can support the chief justice.”

If there’s any reform that Sereno should concentrate on, it should be “speeding up the resolution of cases” because of the growing backlog, Villarama said. “Reform should be geared toward that,” he added.

“Let’s give her time and prove her worth.”

Maria Lourdes Sereno is the first woman Chief Justice

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 As the nation mourned, President Benigno Aquino III made a historic appointment.

Mr. Aquino on Friday appointed the Philippines’ first female Chief Justice, Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Sereno becomes the country’s 24th Chief Justice. At 52, she is the second youngest to be appointed Chief Justice (the first was Chief Justice Manuel Moran, who was 51 when he was appointed in 1945).

With 18 years to go before she retires, her service will span the terms of three more presidents after President Aquino.

Supreme Court justices serve until they turn 70.

Sereno spoke to reporters on Friday afternoon after leaving her office in the company of her staff. She said she was “overwhelmed” when she learned that she was the President’s choice for the new Chief Justice.

“I would like to thank the President for the trust he has reposed in me, but most of all I give all the glory to God from whom all this goodness has happened,” Sereno said.

Asked about her independence, she replied, “Everyone can be assured that will be something that they will see.”

She added: “I would like to assure our countrymen I will keep my oath of office faithfully to the end of my term. We will deliver to the people our priorities and schedules in due time.”

Sereno said she would emulate the good governance started by Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, whose death in a plane crash on Aug. 18 the nation is mourning.

Like Robredo’s governance

The nation, she said, “can be assured that the good governance initiatives started from the life of a very good man will find resonance here in our court.”

Sereno said: “We will deliver to the people our priorities and schedules in due time. You will know about it soon.”

Sereno was President Aquino’s first appointee to the Supreme Court. He appointed her to serve on the court as associate justice on Aug. 16, 2010.

Sereno replaces former Chief Justice Renato Corona, whom the House of Representatives impeached last December for violation of the Constitution and the Senate fired after finding him guilty on May 29 at the end of a four-month trial.

Despite mourning

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda announced Sereno’s appointment on Friday, saying President Aquino was confident Sereno would lead judicial reforms.

Lacierda issued a terse statement announcing Sereno’s appointment while President Aquino and his Cabinet were attending a necrological service in Malacañang for Robredo.

Even amid national mourning for the passing of Robredo, Lacierda said Mr. Aquino was “cognizant of his constitutional duty to appoint the next Chief Justice of the Philippines.”

The Constitution requires the President to fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court within 90 days of its occurrence.

Mr. Aquino beat his Aug. 27 deadline by three days.

Sereno beat seven other nominees for Chief Justice recommended by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC): Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, Supreme Court Associate Justices Roberto Abad, Arturo Brion and Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, former Rep. Ronaldo Zamora and former Ateneo College of Law dean Cesar Villanueva.

Judicial reforms

“The President is confident that Chief Justice Sereno will lead the judiciary in undertaking much-needed reforms,” Lacierda said. “We believe the judicial branch of government has a historic opportunity to restore our people’s confidence in the judicial system.”

Sereno’s elevation to Chief Justice leaves another vacancy in the Supreme Court, which the President must fill within the next 90 days.

At first, Lacierda and his deputy, Abigail Valte, refused to brief reporters on Sereno’s appointment, saying they were in mourning.

Lacierda, however, grudgingly made himself available after being criticized for favoring television stations.

No Luisita connection

He defended the President’s choice, quickly parrying suggestions of connection with the Hacienda Luisita case in the Supreme Court, where Sereno voted in favor of the compensation package Mr. Aquino’s relatives, who controlled the sugar estate, was asking.

Lacierda stressed that the case was closed and that the Supreme Court had already said it would not entertain any further motions to save the hacienda from coverage of the agrarian reform law.

He said that in spite of the mourning for Robredo’s death, Mr. Aquino managed to sit down with the nominees for Chief Justice.

“He interviewed the nominees for the position of Chief Justice,” Lacierda said. He added that the President interviewed the nominees “in a span of two days,” but that he didn’t know exactly when.

Lacierda sought to justify Sereno’s potentially long tenure on the Supreme Court.

“Obviously, this is the first time that someone as young as Justice Sereno, who’s only 52, has been appointed [as Chief Justice],” he said. “So the President believes that Justice Sereno would be the most able to institute reforms in the judiciary. That is the consideration of the President in appointing the next Chief Justice.”

Welcome to lawyers

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), the association of all lawyers in the country, welcomed Sereno’s appointment, but the most outspoken legal expert in the Senate, Miriam Defensor Santiago, said she must “come down from her ivory tower” of outstanding academic background to face the real problems of a Third World judicial system.

Sereno is a former professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law.

“We would like to congratulate the President for choosing Justice Sereno as the new Chief Justice,” said Roan Libarios, president of the IBP. “In our mock elections [in the IBP], she was our Number 2 choice because we believe she has the capability to undertake the required reforms in the judiciary. She has the idealism and required capacity to implement reforms.”

Santiago, too, said she believed Mr. Aquino made the right choice, as the country’s first female Chief Justice is not identified with big business and does not owe her appointment to any lobby group.

“I understand that she has not been appointed to any judicial post,” Santiago said. “She will therefore have to take into consideration the viewpoint of trial judges as distinguished from her own outstanding academic background.”

Biggest challenge

That will be Sereno’s biggest challenge, Santiago said. “She is fully acquainted with the law as it ought to be. She has to raise the level of her awareness of the law as it is. In other words, she will have to come down from her ivory tower and prepare herself to confront the problems of a Third World country.”

Santiago said she did not see any problem with Sereno’s age. “She is certain to ensure continuity in Supreme Court policy because she is very young,” she said.

Santiago defended Sereno from critics who saw her appointment as President Aquino’s ensuring a Supreme Court friendly to his administration.

“That is too facile a conclusion,” Santiago said. “The Chief Justice can very well stand on her own merits. That she’s also acquainted with the thinking of the President on certain legal issues is a big plus.’

New face but insider

“It’s a well-deserved appointment,” said Sen. Franklin Drilon, chair of the Senate committee on finance and a former secretary of justice.

“This is an opportunity for her to institute real reforms in the judiciary,” he said.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan, a former chair of the Senate committee on justice, said, “Nothing less than sweeping reforms will do to ensure that the crisis facing the judiciary will be overcome. We will need the energy, creativity and stamina of a new generation of jurists to do that.”

“The President made it his personal mission to reform the judiciary … I hope she’ll build on the gains of the impeachment [of Corona],” Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said.

“Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is a good choice,” House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said. “A new face yet an insider with a reputation for competence and independence. She will prove to be an effective leader of the judiciary