Manila: President Benigno Aquino backtracked, gave in to pressure, and admitted his openness to decriminalise libel, following criticism that the anti Cybercrime law that he signed in September has infringed on provisions of the Philippine constitution and the Bill of Rights on due process, equal protection of the law, and double jeopardy.

Cautioning reporters and activists in their exercise of the right to free speech and expression, Aquino said, “I fully subscribe to the idea of decriminalizing libel but not lessening the atmosphere to encourage irresponsibility in certain quarters.”

“A libelous statement in print that is sanctioned should also be a libelous statement in the broadcast media, and should also be libelous if the same statement exists on the Internet. There should not be an exemption on what form it [libel] takes,” said Aquino, in reference to the omnibus effect of efforts to decriminalize libel in the Philippines.

“The [often] cited example is when you’re in the movie house, you don’t have the freedom of speech to say there is a fire when there isn’t any. I think the discourse should also [recognize] the rights of all parties [that might be aggravated by a prankster’s freedom of expression] and not just that of the blogger [and his right of freedom of speech],” Aquino said, hinting that decriminalizing libel is a big job that entails amending laws on libel in print and other forms of media.

Despite his sincerity, Aquino argued like an apologist of the country’s anti-crime law on the Internet, adding, “We have an Anti-wiretapping Act crafted sometime in the late ’60s. It defines the devices that you can use and how to commit the crime. Unfortunately, most of the enumerated methods of wiretapping no longer exist [today]. Our jurisprudence says unless there is a physical wire you tap into, you can’t be guilty of wiretapping. We now have the Internet [and there must be a law to regulate Internet users],” Aquino said.

At the same time, Aquino also justified why he signed the controversial law in September, adding, “So if I fail to sign the law, then the provisions on identity fraud, porn, and other aspects sought to be penalized by this law would have been left again in limbo.”

Earlier, Aquino said there is a need to retain the provision on online libel in the controversial Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

Noting the impact of the president’s statement despite his apparent apologies for the anti-Cyber crime law, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said, “It may be construed as a signal to Congress to give urgent consideration of appropriate amendatory legislation to the Cybercrime Law, pertaining to its libel provision.”

“I am quite certain that our President is giving significant assurance to international human rights advocates and experts that the protection and promotion of civil and political rights in the Philippines is moving in the right direction,” De Lima added.

On October 9, the Supreme Court issued a 120 day temporary restraining order, which prevented the implementation of the controversial law that Aquino signed last month.

The high court consolidated 15 petitions that questioned the controversial law. The Apex Court also scheduled oral arguments on the issue in January 2013.

In response, Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said it was a “signal by the Supreme Court” that the Congress amend the controversial law.

Several congressmen have already filed bills that call for the decriminalization of libel, hoping to follow other nations that allow only civil liability on libel cases.

Academics, bloggers, civil society groups, human rights activists, journalists, and lawyers resented the recently signed controversial law, adding it grants too much power to government on Internet users; it curtails freedom of speech; and it transgresses international and local efforts to decriminalize libel.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has also called for the immediate repeal of the Philippines’ newly passed anti-cyber crime law.