Justice Velasco asked to inhibit from cybercrime law deliberations

Journalists on Tuesday asked Supreme Court Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. to inhibit from the deliberations on the constitutionality of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, noting the libel case he filed against an editor of an online news site two years ago. According to the petitioners, Velasco’s libel case against Marites Dañguilan-Vitug, editor-at-large of Rappler.com, showed his “pre-disposition” on the issue. “Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., who is the assigned ponente, does not sit with the cold neutrality of a dispassionate judge," the petitioners said in their four-page motion. Supreme Court public information office acting chief Gleoresty Guerra, meanwhile, could not confirm to GMA News Online if Velasco was indeed the ponente, or decision-writer, of the case. In 2010, Velasco filed 13 counts of libel against Vitug for her article titled “SC Justice in partisan politics?” which was published on abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak. Of the 13, two cases were filed in court while two other complaints were withdrawn. “By availing himself of the remedy of criminal prosecution for libel against a member of the press for an online publication, Justice Velasco has indicated that he sees nothing inherently wrong about libel, in general, or cyberlibel, in particular,” the petitioners said. The petitioners explained that the 15 petitions against Republic Act 10175 objected to Section 4 of the law, which criminalizes libel as a cybercrime and, which taken together with Section 6, increases the penalty provided by the Revised Penal Code by one degree. “Petitioners respectfully now pray for the voluntary recusation of Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. from further participation in this case; in this connection, upon his recusation, it is further respectfully prayed that this case be raffled off and assigned to another member of this Court as ponente,” the petitioners further said in their motion. The petitioners were National Union of journalists of the Philippines, Philippine Press Institute, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, Melinda Quintos-De Jesus, Rowena Carranza Paraan, Alwyn Alburo, Ariel Sebellino and other petitioners from the e-petition. Named respondents were the Executive Secretary, Secretary of Justice, Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, Secretary of Budget and Management, director general of the Philippine National Police, director of the National Bureau of Investigation, and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center. Last week, the Supreme Court issued a 120-day temporary restraining order against the controversial law’s implementation. It also resolved to consolidate the 15 petitions and set the oral arguments on January 15 next year. — Rouchelle Dinglasan/KBK, GMA News