The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) on Monday said the government’s persecution of news website Rappler and its CEO, Maria Ressa, underscored the urgent need to decriminalize libel. The NUJP said the Philstar.com takedown was an inevitable consequence of the government’s twisting of the law to intimidate journalists. “[It] means that anything and everything anyone posts anywhere on the web can be cause for criminal prosecution,” the group said. Though efforts have been made in Congress, proposals to make libel a purely civil offense have largely been ignored. “We address our call not only to the community of independent Filipino journalists but to each and every Filipino, regardless of persuasion, who values their freedom of expression and their right to know,” the group said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer February 18, 2019 23:15 UTC