Manila:A senior senator is urging critics of a new law against cybercrime a chance first before condemning the measure.

Senator Edgardo Angara, one of the chief proponents of the newly-passed Cybercrime Prevention Act, said naysayers should give the new edict a chance to be fully implemented before subjecting the edict to a barrage of criticisms.

“We have to give the law a chance and see how it will be implemented. Only then will the loopholes and the gaps be identified and properly addressed,” Angara said.

Signed by President Benigno Aquino III last September 12, the Cybercrime Prevention Act is expected to open the floodgates of investments in ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in the country.

The new law allows regulations to be applied in the realm of cyberspace. Previously, the country has had a difficulty running against criminals taking advantage of loopholes in the country’s because of a lack of a law governing crimes committed over the Internet and other similarly modern electronic means.

“The Internet has become so pervasive that it is already an essential component of many people’s lives. But as the technology evolved, so has the opportunity expanded for real harm to be done,” said Angara.

 

Angara underscored that the Cybercrime Prevention Act provides the legal framework for safeguarding basic freedoms, such as freedom of expression, and for protecting Filipino Internet users from abuse.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) had earlier aired concern that the Cybercrime Prevention Act could be used by certain sectors, including government, to stifle freedom of expression.

“The inclusion of libel among the crimes that may be committed with the use of computers poses a threat not only against the media and other communicators but anyone in the general public who has access to a computer and the Internet,” the NUJP said.

But Angara, Chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, noted that such a law regulating the use of the Internet is necessary, otherwise cyberspace will degenerate into a virtual free-for-all realm.

“Minus the law, our cyberspace will remain a wild frontier where no due process is afforded to victims of legitimate Internet-related crimes. With it in place, we actually extend the protections provided in our Constitution to the digital realm,” Angara said.

He said that some 30 million Filipinos or roughly 30 per cent of the country’s population have Internet access and this number is growing exponentially Internet access reach a broad number of people.

Aside from NUJP, various groups had alleged that sectors aiming to put limits on freedom of expression could take shelter on vague provisions of the new law and allege that they have been the subject of libel.

But Angara, clarified that any ambiguity in the measure can be clarified in its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

Based of the provisions of the Cybecrime Prevention Act, the government is mandated to come up with an IRR.

“As it is, I believe this law is a milestone for ICT in the country,” Angara said.