THE Supreme Court has allowed the penalty of fine as an alternative to imprisonment in punishment for committing the crime of online libel.
Court records showed that Soliman was charged in 2018 for online libel under Section 4 of Republic Act No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, for a Facebook post against then Assistant Secretary of the Department of Agriculture Waldo Carpio. In imposing the penalty of fine only, the RTC invoked Supreme Court Administrative Circular No. 08-2008, or the Guidelines in the Observance of a Rule of Preference in the Imposition of Penalties in Libel Cases, which permits the imposition of fine, rather than imprisonment in libel cases.But the OSG filed a petition before the appellate court, arguing that the RTC committed grave abuse of discretion in imposing a penalty of fine only for Soliman’s violation of online libel.
The OSG argued that the penalty of imprisonment must be imposed when the offense is committed with the use of such technologies. Meanwhile, Article 355 of the RPC states that “a libel committed by means of writing, printing, lithography, engraving, radio, phonograph, painting, theatrical exhibition, cinematographic exhibition, or any similar means, shall be punished by prison correccional in its minimum and medium periods or a fine ranging from P40,000 to P1.2 million, or both…”
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