THE FLAVOR of the month, the latest advocacy of the “wokes”, social-climbing millennials, devotees to the cult of the yellow ribbon, and the rest of the gullible idiots is nothing more than your usual trendy Twitter fashion that will soon be forgotten as soon as something fancy comes out in social media.
And we’re talking about breaking the law, specifically Republic Act 10175’s Chapter 3 Section 4C No. 4 which renders unlawful or prohibited acts of libel those mentioned under Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), as amended, if such acts are committed through a computer system or any other similar means that may be devised.
And that’s what happened to a certain Maria Ressa lately, the executive editor and chief executive officer of a social media blog site called Rappler that claims to be an online news site. She was convicted on June 15, 2020 for the crime of cyberlibel.
As expected, right on cue the usual suspects were up in arms in social media screaming “assault on press freedom”, democracy is dead” and other nonsense.
“There is no suppression of freedom of the press. It was a case of bad journalism. It was a case of bad lawyering.” That is according to Presidential Spokesman Atty. Harry Roque.
Indeed, it is all of the above, plus a severe affliction of entitlement with large doses of impunity liberally sprinkled with naïve stupidity.
Any journalist worth his salt is fully aware how the libel law works in the Philippines for it to prosper to the point of conviction; the prosecution or the accuser must prove there was malice in the article or news storyagainst the person or subject of that story, more so if it involves a private individual.
And the defense or the accused – in this case the journalist – must prove that there is no malice or intention to malign this person who is the subject of the article.
It is that simple, no need for all the theatrics and drama on social media. And it is certainly not an assault on press freedom.
During my younger days as a journalist in “I Am Iloilo City” I’ve had several libel cases from the late Mayor Rodolfo Ganzon, Gov. Sim Griño and 4th District’s Cong. Narciso Monfort. I proved in court that there was no malice in the articles I’ve written concerning them and all cases were dismissed. No drama. Certainly no fanfare.
But this Maria Ressa never appeared in court to defend the article in her blog site Rappler. Instead she chose to defend herself in the “supreme court” of social media – really a case of bad lawyering.
In case you’re wondering why Maria Ressa did not appear in court, it was probably because of arrogance or ignorance. Perhaps it was all part of the plan by her financiers and handlers to make her the “Joan or John of Arc” of media to further paint the Philippines bad.
Right after the promulgation of the guilty verdict, Maria Ressa had a press conference covered and streamed live by almost all media outlets to the world, and she had the temerity to keep on saying “the end of press freedom” and “democracy is dead”. All this time the “wokes”, social-climbing millennials, devotees to the cult of the yellow ribbon, and the rest of the gullible idiots never realized they’ve been played.
In the USA they have George Floyd, a drug user, convicted armed robber and counterfeiter as hero and inspiration to loot and riot. In the Philippines the “wokes”, social-climbing millennials, devotees to the cult of the yellow ribbon, and the rest of the gullible idiots have Maria Ressa as their “symbol of the death of democracy”. Unfortunately she can’t inspire them enough to loot and riot. Posting on social media that they stand, sit or lie down with her is the best they can do.
You know they’ve all been had by the contrived propaganda that Maria Ressa is a “victim” of assault on press freedom. Nothing could be further from the truth. She is the aggressor and the victim is a private individual, a businessman, not even remotely connected with government.
And this is what Maria Ressa’s victim Wilfredo Keng has to say:
“They denied me my right to clear my name. Where else can I go to seek justice and protection but our courts? And so I did.”
Finally, a post on social media from former ABS-CBN reporter Gilbert Remulla: “When Cory Aquino, as president, successfully sued Louie Beltran for libel, I don’t recall anyone in the media calling it the ‘death of press freedom’ or the ‘death of democracy.’ Of course, she was an Aquino”…
Take note, press freedom is not absolute. Your freedom ends where my freedom begins./PN
