10 October 2012

IFJ welcomes the Supreme Court decision ordering a temporary restraining order against the Philippines Cybercrime law

The

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the National

Union of Journalists Philippines (NUJP) in welcoming the October 9 decision by

the Supreme Court of the Philippines to issue a temporary restraining order

against the implementation of RA 10175 - the Cybercrime Prevention Act, also

known as the Cybercrime law.

The Cybercrime law

has been broadly criticised and serious concerns have been raised regarding its

potential to negatively impact freedom of expression, particularly as the scope of criminal libel under the law extends to all online expression.

The 120-day

restraining order against the implementation of the Cybercrime law followed

extensive protests led by the NUJP with members of the media, bloggers,

netizens, human rights groups, people’s organizations, progressive legislators,

questioning the legitimacy of the law and demanding its repeal.

“It is the very least the Supreme Court can do

confronted with a blatantly unconstitutional and repressive law” said the NUJP.

While the NUJP welcome the temporary

restraining order as a brief respite, they remain cautious and call on the national

legislators to dismantle the law.

“The IFJ applauds the defenders of freedom of expression

in the Philippines for their steadfast stand against the Cybercrime law. We join

the NUJP in calling on

the Supreme Court to repeal the law which is in contradiction with the country’s

constitution and obligations under international law. We further call on the

legislators in the Philippines to decriminalize libel and pass the Freedom of

information Bill” said IFJ Asia-Pacific Director, Jacqueline Park.

For

further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +612 9333 0918

The IFJ

represents more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries

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the IFJ on Twitter: @ifjasiapacific

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