A BIG NO NO to The Cybercrime Law
The Cybercrime Law which was recently implemented here in the Philippines was the most talked about tough issue where the government faced a barrage of protests in the internet as the cybercrime law took effect that could see people given a long jail terms just by posting defamatory comments online. Anyone posting a libellous comment online, either on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else, faces a maximum prison sentence of 12 years and a fine of one million pesos ($24,000). Whoa!
I think the Senators who signed and implemented this law cannot handle criticism. The implementation of the law took our fellow citizens back to the dark ages where the freedom of speech and expression were not recognized. Although there are many provisions of the cybercrime law that aims to fight a range of online crimes such as fraud, identity theft, spamming and child pornography but this one provision when one makes any libelous comments posted online which is a criminal offense is much tougher than the traditional crimes.
What's got into the mind of our law making body? They give more provision and heavier impact on cyber crime law! How about drug dealing, prostitution, human trafficking, rape, murder and among other crimes that really inflect human violation? Why focus more into solving the greater problem of our nation. Tsk! Tsk! I hope we would have right minded candidates for next years election.