DOJ to continue educating public on cyberlaw

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Justice will continue to educate the people on the controversial Cybercrime Prevention Act even after the Supreme Court’s issuance on Tuesday of a 120-day temporary restraining order suspending the said law’s implementation.

What was put on hold effectively with the high court’s TRO was the DOJ’s crafting of the law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR), according to Justice Secretary Leila De Lima.

De Lima on Wednesday said the suspended law will also put on hold the operations of the cybercrime office led by Justice Assistant Secretary Geronimo Sy.

But De Lima said the high court’s issuance of a TRO did not cover the department’s campaign plan to raise public awareness on the law.

The other day, the Supreme Court unanimously ordered the immediate suspension in the implementation of the law which would last for 120 days or four months and set oral arguments on January 25 next year.

Fifteen individuals and groups had petitioned the court to scrap certain provisions of the law that aimed to fight crimes in the Internet like child pornography. But the groups were angered more by the supposed last-minute insertion into the said law of a provision that now penalizes online libel, saying the insertion curtailed freedom of expression.

Speaking to reporters, De Lima underscored the need “to educate the people on the salient features of the law and to explain to them that there is nothing to worry in the implementation of the law.”

She said that she was able to watch via webcast the cyberlaw forum the other day and thought that the presentation made by Sy “helped a lot” to explain concerns on the law.

“I hope some of the petitioners, if not all, took time to listen to the side of the government and into the side of the DOJ, as presented in the forum,” De Lima told reporters.

She said there were suggestions for the cyberlaw forum to be uploaded on YouTube “as part of our advocacy and awareness raising.”

Meanwhile, she also said that her office will help the Office of the Solicitor-General in preparing for its comment on the TRO as well as the oral arguments set by the high court on January 15 next year.

“I don’t think there is legal prohibition on our part to help out in the drafting of the comment and in preparation for the oral arguments,” De Lima said.