I wrote something, so sue me.

By sheer dumb misfortune, I decided to start blogging again just as when the entire country is being swept by this Cybercrime Law media circus. Not that it directly affects my freedom to post stuff, but I don't wanna be that dude who doesn't give a damn - obviously I'm using this medium to throw my thoughts out into the world, and so the internet deserves at least my futile sentiments on protecting my freedom to use it to my benefit.

I suppose it all boils down to the definition of the word "malicious", a term used to describe that fine line that separates an innocent, unadulterated, honest opinion from a libelous statement that could put you behind bars for 12 years. Suddenly you can't just tweet anything anymore.

In American culture, the saturation point for a libelous act is set up so high that what may be very scandalous for Filipinos may just be a typical emotional outburst for them. You hear them verbally lambasting one another on Twitter and Facebook, but nobody really goes to court unless someone directly assaults another. Certainly no cases are filed just because someone gave out an opinion - rather, they are taken as considerable seeds of debates and exchange of ideas among fora and social media sites. The person who had spoken will not be crucified, perhaps only objected, criticized or disproved, but definitely not punished. Individual ideas become newsworthy because someone opened his mind and shared it to the world, even if those statements are personal attacks, morally degrading.  Americans can tolerate it to a certian point until perhaps the matter has already been blown out of proportion, compromising their reputation, career or families. That's why (and understandably) they abuse this freedom. They tweet whatever they want, whenever they want. They would even attack their own president on live television and not be sued or grilled by anyone. They abuse it because it's theirs to have and no one would take it from them.

Now, Filipinos aren't like that. Here, opinions are taken personally by everyone. In a showbiz-oriented political landscape like ours, nothing is more important than image. Politicians care more about what they say than what they actually do. And celebrities, well, become politicians, eventually. So whenever someone verbally attacks someone, the act will be taken seriously and acted upon, regardless of whether or not the receiving end was actually insulted or offended by the statement. Like modern mafia warfare. If you had, by any means, negatively altered the way people look at a Filipino celebrity, you're going down, paisan.



"Malicious" is a very dangerous word for Filipinos. Our political and showbiz celebrities are so keen on showcasing a public facade that even the faintest of remarks can cause a bloody wound to their suddenly sensitive hearts. They will use this word to retaliate on opinionated people who have blemished their royal image. They will jump on every opportunity to retaliate on every media person whose online reports are unfavorable to them. And the worst con of this scenario is that people will be reluctant to speak out. Voices will be supressed and opinions will rot in the minds of those who dare to care. Our very own government will hold us back from being involved, from being in the loop, from being outspoken, from being vigilant, from being free to express what we desire to express.

It's one of our precious rights and they're taking it away.

So I say, go ahead and let them implement the law on anti-pornography, anti-hacking, anti-identity theft and anti-piracy. I'm all for that.

Just leave out the "e-libel" part.