By Daylight Abas
The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) and other news organizations supported the decriminalization of libel cases during the Senate Committee of Public Information and Mass Media hearing on the proliferation of fake news headed by Senator Robinhood Padilla.
Atty. Regie Jularbal, the legal counsel of KBP, asserted the importance of a free market of ideas without the fear of being sued for libel.
Senator Raffy Tulfo, a former journalist, recalled that decriminalizing libel was one of his campaign promises, clarifying that it is only for certain groups. He added that those who are pretending to be journalists should still be prosecuted for libel.
However, VERA Files founder Ellen Tordesillas challenged Tulfo's definition of fake journalists, pointing to the strict set of standards that genuine journalists must always adhere to.
In response, University of the Philippines (UP) journalism professor Danilo Arao Jr. said that the decriminalization of libel cases might discourage citizen journalism.
He added that the accountability for defamation could still be had through civil libel suits and through extralegal means such as loss of credibility for making libelous reports.
Tulfo then conceded that professional journalists should be immune from libel, but not pretenders which include vloggers, bloggers, and even community journalists worker for mainstream news outlets.
