CHAPTER II: THE BLOGGER’S FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND THE CYBER LIBEL LAW

blog

(a shortened version of “weblog”) is an online journal or informational website displaying information in reverse chronological order, with the latest posts appearing first, at the top. It is a platform where a writer or a group of writers share their views on an individual subject

blog

is a type of website usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

blogging

is the process of creating blog posts and publishing them on a website. Its characteristics include informal language, a laid-back atmosphere, regular updates, lifehacks, tips and a high level of customer engagement.

blogger

is someone who runs and controls a blog. He or she shares her opinion and knowledge on different topics for a target audience.

Libel laws

are classified as crimes against honor, which seek to protect an individual against unjust attacks against the character and reputation of his person.

Article 354

of the same Code presumes malice, as a general rule, in every defamatory imputation, without regard to its truth or falsity.

Freedom from Prior Restraint or Censorship

Prior restraint means official governmental restrictions on the press or other forms of expression in advance of actual publication or dissemination. The government might outright prevent public distribution of media, or place conditions on speech that make it difficult for it to occur

Freedom from Punishment

The freedom from prior restraint would be set at naught if the citizen would hesitate to speak for fear of vengeance that he might suffer against the officials he criticized. The limitation on the state to impose criminal or civil liability after the utterance of an expression. Unlike prior restraint, subsequent punishment allows the expression to be disseminated but the effect is the same.

Discovery of Truth (free market of an idea)

The freedom of expression is essential for the search of truth. This is the marketplace of idea which posits the power of thought can be tested by its acceptability in the competition of the market.

marketplace of ideas

refers to the belief that the test of the truth or acceptance of ideas depends on their competition with one another and not on the opinion of a censor, whether one provided by the government or by some other authority.

For Self-Government

Since it is the people who have chosen directly or indirectly the person who will govern them, the scope of the guarantee is broader when people criticize public officials.

Actual Malice

means that the publisher knew that the statements were false or acted with reckless disregard for whether they were true or false.

1. libel

2. slander

3. pornography

Limitations for free speech and expressions

Art 353. Definition of Libel

A libel is 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.

Art. 354. Requirement for publicity

Every defamatory imputation is presumed to be malicious, even if it

be true, if no good intention and justifiable motive for making it is shown, except in the following cases:

1. A private communication made by any person to another in the performance of any legal, moral, or social duty;

and

2. A fair and true report, made in good faith, without any comments or remarks, of any judicial, legislative or other

official proceedings which are not of confidential nature, or of any statement, report or speech delivered in said

proceedings, or any other act performed by public officers in the exercise of their functions.

Art. 355 Libel means by writings or similar means

Libel is a defamation committed by means of writing,

printing, lithography, engraving, radio, phonograph, painting, theatrical exhibition, cinematographic

exhibition, or any similar means.

1. Imputation

2. Publicly

3. Malicious

4. Directed at a natural or juridical person, or one who is dead.

5. Tend to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt

6. Writing

Elements of Defamation

As to the manner of commission

ordinary libel is committed by means of writing, printing, lithography, engraving, radio, phonograph, painting. Theatrical exhibition, cinematographic exhibition, or any similar means, while cyber libel is committed through a computer system or any other similar means which may be devised in the future.

As to the venue of filing the complaint

ordinary libel is filed with the RTC of the province or city where the libelous

article is printed and first published OR at the place where one of the offended parties reside at the time of the

commission of the offense (Art. 360, RPC). As regards cyber libel, it is filed only with the RTC at the place where one of

the offended parties reside at the time of the commission of the offense (By analysis using as legal basis the case of

Bonifacio vs Jimenez G.R. No. 184800, May 5, 2010).

As to the penalty imposed

ordinary libel shall be punished by prison correctional in its minimum and medium

periods or a fine ranging from 200 to 6,000 pesos, or both, in addition to the civil action which may be brought by the

offended party. A cyber libel shall be punished by one degree higher.