Bayan asks Congress to tackle cyber law amendments with urgency

MANILA, Philippies—Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Secretary General Renato Reyes on Wednesday urged members of the Congress to exercise a “sense of urgency” in dealing with proposed amendments to the controversial Cybercrime law, saying that he feared that the coming 2013 elections would hinder progress on the said amendments.

Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes . FILE PHOTO

“Sana po umusog din yun at magkaroon ng sense of urgency ang House leadership (I hope it will be pushed and for the House leadership to have a sense of urgency),” Reyes said in an interview with Radyo Inquierer’s Erwin Aguillon, referring to lawmakers who would be looking into the contentious provisions of the said bill.

“Dapat umusad na ‘yung mga amendments sa Congress pero dahil mukhang election na eh wala nang kapasyahan, gana, at wala namang signal mula sa Malacañang para gawing urgent itong amendments (The amendments in Congress should move forward but since it’s election time, there’s no sense of urgency anymore. There’s also no signal from Malacañang to make these amendments urgent),” Reyes added.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court (SC) issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) suspending implementation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 for 120 days.

Bayan is one of groups composed of militants, students, journalists, bloggers and netizens, who protested specific provisions of the act, particularly the provisions on the increased penalty for libel, online libel, and the Department of Justice’s powers to block and restrict access to websites.

“Ang panawagan ho namin yung buong batas kailangang ibasura pero sa pamamaraang legal, sa pagsasampa ng kaso, kailangang tukuyin ang ispesipikong provision (Our plea is for the whole law to be trashed but in a legal manner. If there are cases to be filed, the specific provision should be singled out),” Reyes said.

Reyes added that their group would remain vigilant on the procedures and developments on the act, and would be preparing hard for the oral arguments set by the SC on January 15.

For more on the interview, listen to the audio clip from Radyo Inquirer 990 AM.