Sotto sets record straight: I did not insert the libel clause

Senator Vicente Sotto III

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Vicente Sotto III on Monday spoke before the Senate “to set the record straight” on the allegations that he inserted the provision on online libel in the recently passed Cybercrime Prevention Act.

He said he spoke out because he has become the “favorite neighborhood cyberbully whipping boy.” Sotto lamented that he was always being accused of wrongdoing in the Senate.

He read out the history of the passage of the Cybercrime Prevention Act from 2010 when it was first filed.

He insisted that the law went through the correct process and there was no “insertion,” as many had reported, which he said gave the connotation of smuggling. The amendment including the online libel provision was not an insertion, he insisted.

Sotto also told those claiming he inserted the provision in retaliation to the cyber bullying he received that the law was already out of the hands of the Senate on June 5 when he was bullied in social media last August.