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BY AYIN DREAM D. APLASCA
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Friday, September 8, 2017
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EARLIER this month, President Rodrigo Duterte signed a new law entitled “An Act Adjusting the Amount of the Value of Property and Damage on which a Penalty is Based” or Republic Act 10951. This new law makes revisions on the penalties and fines under the Revised Penal Code (RPC).
These revisions affect around 97 crimes under the Code. What made this new law controversial is the imposition of penalties and fines as a punishment to any person who publishes false news.
The issue here is the difference between “false news” and “false opinion.” I’ve known someone who questioned the difference between the two. Well, maybe because the former is general in nature as it uses the third person subjective case and the latter is more on the first person.
How do we categorize fake news? Is being fake tantamount to being erroneous, inaccurate, malicious, wrong, etc.?
And is fake news the same as libel? Is the new law only applicable to journalists and media men?
One thing for sure, this new law will make journalists revisit their code of ethics. Fake news is libelous and can send one to jail. Remember, the RPC amendments did not change the definition of libel.
The crime of libel stays the same. However, the main charges upgraded the penalties for the crime.
The elements of libel are imputation of a discreditable act or condition to another; publication of the imputation; identity of the person defamed; and existence of malice.
In Article 353, the RPC defines libel as a “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 discredit or cause the dishonor or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.”
It also covers the crime of “unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances.” In this element, publication of false news comes in.
Section 1, Article 154 of the RPC defines false news under the unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances.
Of course, we are scared of harassments and embarrassments. Regardless of the medium or the policy, news will still have to be based on what they were taught in journalism courses.
Simple. Hard facts. Informed standpoint. Fairness. At the end of the day, only true and trustworthy news can and will survive.
(Atty. Ayin Dream D. Aplasca practices her profession in Iloilo City. She may be reached thru ayindream.aplasca@gmail.com/PN)
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