[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Cyber libel case vs Rappler dismissed’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’18’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
Saturday, February 24, 2018
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=’18’ font_color=” color=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
MANILA – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has dismissed the cyber libel charge filed by businessman Wilfredo Keng against online news site Rappler over an investigative report it published in 2012.
NBI Cybercrime Division chief Manuel Antonio Eduarte said they closed the investigation their legal and evaluation service stated that the case already lapsed the one-year prescriptive period.
“Cybercrime law did not differentiate cyber libel from the ordinary crime of libel penalized under Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code, which extinguishes criminal liability within one year,” he said.
“The earlier theory of continuous publication did not stand. It was a theory to address the fact that the article was posted four months before the Cybercrime Law was enacted. All criminal laws are not retroactive,” said Eduarte.
Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa, former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr. and Benjamin Bitanga were charged by Keng, who was among the subjects of a Rappler investigative report in 2012.
Based on the news report of Santos, Keng allegedly lent his black Chevrolet Suburban to then Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona who was facing an impeachment complaint.
Rappler reported that the vehicle, which bore the plate number ZWK 111, was registered under Keng at the Land Transportation Office.
But while Keng admitted ZWK 111 was his plate number, he said he did not own the SUV Corona had been using./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
