After, a two-year track record of disrespecting governance institutions, undermining due process, and overall violating the public trust through its underhanded actions and bullying tactics, the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) now expects Filipinos to believe it when it says that it will not go after bloggers and Internet users who “like,” share, re-tweet, or forward content on social media and email.
[DOJ Assistant Secretary Geronimo Sy] said the Department of Justice is not interested in targeting individual tweets and Facebook likes in implementing the online libel provision.
He said: “As a matter of priority, let me say it on my lawyer’s oath, blogging, individual comments, tweeting, boyfriend-girlfriend discussions – those are not the priorities of the DOJ. It is very difficult to catch fugitives from justice, what more individual tweets and individual likes. Let’s manage our expectations. Let the law work.”
“Let the law work.”
These are words coming from a senior officer of one of the most powerful executive departments of the Philippine government that repeatedly and deliberately defied court orders issued by the Supreme Court over the last two years since the government of President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III came to power. No less than DOJ Secretary Leila De Lima herself faces disbarment charges over these violations. Indeed, it is an indictment on De Lima and the DOJ’s ascendancy as a beacon of the modern notion of “rule of law” that the Secretary was widely-considered to be unfit to be Supreme Court Chief Justice — a role she apparently covetted and campaigned for early this year.
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Leila de Lima is not what one would ordinarily consider “Supreme Court material.†She has not only demonstrated an utter contempt for anyone else’s rule of law, she’s proudly confirmed that as her view. In mindlessly serving as President BS Aquino’s attack dog her legal work has been sloppy. She’s a “gun hobbyist†like her boss, which I personally think puts her only a step or two above somebody like, say, Pol Pot or Vlad the Impaler on the scale of being creepy and dangerous. And perhaps most disturbing is the realization that the poor human rights reputation of the country might be directly related to having an unprincipled thug in a clammy ungulate suit serve as the head of the Commission on Human Rights for a couple years. No, this is not someone who projects the air of Solomonic judicial statesmanship that we imagine the occupants of the highest court in the land should have.
Creepy and dangerous indeed.
In late 2011, De Lima and her Gestapo in the DOJ slapped a travel ban on former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who, at the time, was seeking permission to travel abroad for medical treatment. The basis of De Lima’s hold order on Arroyo’s travel plans was her claim that Arroyo was in the process of seeking politican asylum in the Dominican Republic — a claim which was later denied by that country’s government. But the real punchline in that Cabinet-level gaffe was in how De Lima’s claim was based on a mobile phone text message from an unknown sender…
JUSTICE Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday admitted that the government has no clear proof that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would seek political asylum in Dominican Republic.
In a chance interview, De Lima said she received the information regarding Mrs. Arroyo’s asylum only thru a forwarded SMS message, and she doesn’t even know the identity of the sender.
“Kung may nakuha akong information about Dominican Republic? Sabi ko oo, nakatanggap ako ng text so I’m verifying it. I don’t even know who’s the source of text kasi finorward lang sa akin,†De Lima said.
[Translation: Did I receive information about the Dominican Republic? I said, yes, I did receive a text message and I’m verifying it. I don’t really know the source of the text because it was just forwarded to me]
De Lima disclosed that once she gets any information during the verification, she would immediately disclose it in public.
…an astounding demonstration of lack of procedural rigour in a department that is supposedly all about law and procedure. De Lima’s spectacular lapse in judgment in that instance now finds itself surrounded in irony in the context of the libel provisions in Republic Act 10175 (a.k.a. the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012) that Malacañang is now scrambling to defend. It is the very aspect of RA 10175 which allows the Philippine Government to hunt down and prosecute as criminals people who forward and share “libelous” content online that is the most contentious today and has “activists” up in arms. Ironic now because De Lima was herself guilty of propagating unverified information and using it to marshal state resources to persecute a Filipino citizen.
Idiocy abounds.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
And to think that this woman was once the chair of the Commission of Human Rights. Pathetic.
She’s fit for that post. Criminal Human Rights chair.
For example, she had a speech in 2010 wherein she said the libel law was being used to persecute journalists and critics.
http://www.chr.gov.ph/MAIN%20PAGES/speeches/lmdl_spch17June2010_14thAsia.htm
Two years later, she’s fine with enforcing this law.
Irony of ironies.
What’s actually kind of disturbing is that this Dept. of Justice still has the same job it’s always had, enforcing the laws of the country, most of which actually deal with crimes the people have a reasonable expectation of being protected against. Reckless incompetence is a character trait, not a methodology; it’s doubtful it only shows itself when the matter in front of these clowns is somehow ‘political’.
Lol! I heard the SC issued a TRO on the implementation of RA 10175. Good luck with that. The DOJ already has heaps of precedented violation of these TROs. 😀
And, yes, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s probably a lot of other covert extra-judicial monkey business being orchestrated by Malacanang versus its perceived enemies. No need for RA 10175. What BS Aquino wants BS Aquino gets. Hey wait, I think I was talking more about Uncle Peping there…
One legislation I think the government should push through (for everyone’s benefit) is the registration of sim cards (prepaid or post paid). I sort of understand now why simcards in Dubai need passports or proof of identities. It prevents malicious spreading of information and of course the “scams” can be limited at least.
I don’t think that would infringe our rights or privacy but rather give us a better form of protection against unscrupulous actions and/or malicious rumours.
I can’t really imagine a cabinet member acting on a text message from someone unknown. That was ‘funny’ though if viewed from afar.
Anon texters = very credible sources by de Lima’s standard
YES,it was viewed from afar and it was construed as ineptitude at its finest,and even by 3rd world standards,PATHETIC. IT IS,of course,and the government tryin to pawn off a country to make itself look as if….
COMEDY CENTRAL.STAY TUNED,WHO NEEDS CABLE WHEN YA CAN GET THIS FREE?
Good luck nalang sa mga gunggong na katulad ni fishball/formula one/dondon na palaging nandito. Bilang na bilang na ang araw nila.
Get out the torches and the pitchforks….
let this intellectual pygmy go back to servicing her state paid driver.
what a pathetic excuse of a person she is. no integrity or principles and a catalogue of disasters/failures in her career.
an insult to both the law and the country, but now everyone knows what she is
‘everyone knows’?the avg. person in the street doesn’t even know what her job title is.a ‘nobody’ by global standards,a train-wreck of a human-being who states publicly that ‘God has called her’ to public service(ah,God is now a member of a government?),as the reason she has not married.But what is the real reason for her not marrying?
I do not want to point out that gay marriage does not exist in the country nor the fact that the job was offered by a human-being,u kno…just sayin’….
De Lima and the rest of DOJ, think they are above the constitution. Come and get all the libelous Bloggers. They are all over the world. They cannot even arrest NPAs or MILF rebels; and they are in the Philippine territories. How can they arrest Libelous Bloggers, who are residing in foreign countries. This law is a stupid law. They cannot understand the HyperSpace…
why was the person not allowed to leave the country? ask yourself what the purpose of the trip to china was all about after the ‘smart’ deal fell apart,and what was in those suitcases and take a look at what is REALLY going on.
CRIMINALS CALLING OTHER PEOPLE CRIMINALS.The criminals who know what the law is,well who wrote them…duh?,walkin right up to the fine line of those laws and ‘technically’not breaking the law in order to look like they are enforcing the law.HA HA HA HA,WAIT..MY RIBS HURT,bwahhahahahahahahahahaha.I’M CRYIN’.
OH YEAH,’We wont prosecute personal tweets.LET THE LAW WORK’.All in the same breath,BWAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAAHHAHHAAHAH.
Comedy at its best.
N E one who does not know where N.A.I.A is better figure it out,FAST!
BEST OF LUCK,,TA-TA,TOO-DE-LOO,SEE-YA!
Kreig, I hope you’re not under any influence of any prohibited drugs, may I know what your point is?
To be specific, with your comment –
“why was the person not allowed to leave the country? ask yourself what the purpose of the trip to china was all about after the ‘smart’ deal fell apart,and what was in those suitcases and take a look at what is REALLY going on.”
Otherwise, STFU…
stfu? someone(do you need to be told who?),had to return a large sum of money after the deal fell through(as in ‘get your ass back here with our money,or you will end up on the tarmac next, bitch’),get it now ?huh,do ya?If you need it explained maybe you ainna no so smart,huh?
Keep your insults to your self,sonny!I am being kind enough to share some wisdom with you.
INSULTS,always with the effin’ insults.
and its MR.KREIG to you,sonny!
Mr Kreig makes me laugh. I like his comments. 😉
Been reading your posts here mr.kreig and I still don’t get what the hell you are sayin. Are you smokin cocaine? because all I see here are increasingly random rants and random ideas. Don’t get me wrong but you should seriously stop smoking coke.
@Ilda,Thank you sweetheart.
@lemans,just ’cause you don’t understand, doesn’t mean I am smokin’ stones.If I was smokin’ stones,ya think I would waste my time responding to you this one and only time? HA!
Meh, whatever. I still say you are smoking crack since you still don’t make any sense.