Bello petitions SC to declare certain libel provisions unconstitutional

Former vice presidential candidate Walden Bello on Tuesday petitioned the Supreme Court to declare certain provisions covering libel and cyber libel as unconstitutional.

In a 44-page petition, Bello asked the High Court to declare as unconstitutional Articles 353 to 355 of the Revised Penal Code and Article 4(c)(4) of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

Bello, who is facing a cyber libel case, also urged the court to nullify and permanently enjoin his prosecution.

According to the former congressman, the statutes on libel and cyber libel should be declared unconstitutional for being “at loggerheads” with the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press.

“Petitioner is not saying that freedoms are absolute but that imposing penal sanctions and subjecting the ones charged to the rigors and humiliation of a criminal litigation has so much of a chilling effect that unduly infringes on said freedoms,” he said.

Bello, a political activist, cautioned the libel statutes have become “tools to suppress dissent.” 

According to Bello, the libel and cyber libel statutes do not distinguish between defamation against private individuals and against public officers, employees, celebrities, high-profile personalities, or persons involved in the public interest.

“Such blanket coverage of the libel statutes allow for the curtailment of the precise speech or expression that the Bill of Rights had intended to insulate,” he said.

Bello was arrested in connection to the cyber libel case filed against him by former Davao City chief information officer Jefry Tupas in March 2022.

In a Facebook post, Bello said Tupas was “nabbed at a beach party where she and her friends were snorting P1.5 million worth of drugs” when he was asking then-Mayor Sara Duterte to explain supposed “blots” on her record in Davao City.

Tupas, who admitted to attending the party, said she left after eating, just before a Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) operation seized P1.5 million worth of drugs.

Bello was released a day after posting bail.

In his petition, Bello said his remarks were a “political statement” against the now-Vice President Duterte.

“It was very clearly an expression of dissent and criticism against an incumbent official who was running for the second highest office of the land,” he said.

Further, Bello said it was clear that the portion of his post pertaining to Tupas  was “in the form of question.”

“The query was meant to prod Duterte to provide an explanation,” he said.—RF, GMA Integrated News