Congress Defers Approval of Libel Bill

House Speaker Prospero Nograles ordered on Wednesday the deferment of the third reading of House Bill 5760, saying that the substitute version of the bill on the decriminalization of libel veered away from the intent of the original bill.

“The spirit and intent of the bills that we filed in relation to the decriminalization of libel is incompatible with the provisions of the substitute measure. I think that the provisions which are supposed to remove the imprisonment clauses in the measure did not see print,” Nograles said in a statement.

Nograles added that the failure to remove imprisonment as penalty to libel prompted several lawmakers, mainly the party-list bloc, to withdraw authorship of the bill on Monday.

HB 5760 is the substitute measure for five separate bills on libel, including HB 3535 authored by Party-list representatives Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casino (Bayan Muna), Liza Masa, Luzviminda Ilagan (Gabriela) and Crispin Beltran, which aims to delete libel from our criminal statutes; HB 2802 authored by Nograles, which will take out the penalty of imprisonmen but will increase fines; HB 4914 authored by Representative Giorgidi Aggabao entitled “An Act making criticisms of public officials qualified privilege; HB 2133 authored by Representative Rufus Rodriguez, which removes penalty of imprisonment; and HB 2791 authored by Representative Salvador H. Escudero entitled “An Act decriminalizing libel by means of writing or similar means repealing article 355 of the Revised Penal Code.”

Nograles gave the assurance that his leadership supports the decriminalization of the crime of libel to strengthen freedom of the press while encouraging a more professional media practice.

According to Nograles, the purpose of the measure should be to encourage the media to be more responsible in exercising their profession by way of higher fines for publishing or airing libelous materials while enhancing press freedom by removing penal provisions on libel.

Companion Measure

Nograles pointed out that HB 5760, after its second reading approval last week, should “go hand-in-hand” with the controversial Right of Reply bill (RORB).

In a statement released on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. proposed “that any person who has already been accorded the right to reply by the mass media over an objectionable story or commentary could not sue for libel anymore over the same item.”

This provision, said Pimentel, can be inserted into the RORB as one of the modifications to be considered when the measure is tackled at the bicameral conference committee.

Pimentel made the proposal in light of an informal survey conducted in the Lower House showing that a majority of lawmakers favor RORB to be passed into law despite continued resistance from the media.

Pimentel agreed with Nograles that the RORB is a companion measure of the decriminalization of libel but pointed out that “it would take more time to approve the bill decriminalizing libel than to approve the bill granting the right to reply.

“What I heard is that the House is going to approve the right to reply bill anytime. I am not certain when we can approve the decriminalizing of libel. But at the bicameral conference committee, we can adopt a rule that if a person has already availed of his right to reply, he could no longer file a libel case against anyone over the same media item,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel, who authored both bills, explained that decriminalizing libel does not mean that the persons who feel they were libeled would no longer have any remedy in law.

“They would still have an avenue in law to vindicate their good name or reputation that might have been besmirched. And that is to file civil actions for damages against the defamer,” he said.

“Should decriminalizing libel come about, the additional remedy that the offended party may take in addition to the action for damages would be his or her right to reply,” Pimentel added. (pinoypress.net)