Press Release
October 9, 2012

TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW
Cayetano reacts to Cybercrime Law "blame game" among senators

Reporter: May kinalaman ba sa Cybercrime Law yung naging sagutan niyo kanina ni Sen. Sotto?

ASC: Tatlo yun: (1) Anti-Cybercrime Law; (2) CamSur; at (3) RH bill. Nagsasawa na ako na pumapasok dito tapos may plastikan o hyprocrisy na kahalo. We're senators. We're honorable gentlemen and women of the Senate. We owe candor to everyone.

Kung pro or anti ka or nagkamali ka, aminin nalang. Katulad nga ng sabi ni Sen. Trillanes, bakit kapag priority sa kanila yung bill madaming caucus pero kapag katulad nung RH bill, hindi priority bill kaya ni isang caucus wala. Tapos sasabihin nila hindi dine-delay kahit obvious naman na ganoon ang ginagawa.

("Blaming the minority") Yung sa Cybercrime Law, sila ang nagpasa noon tapos pagbibintangan nila minority. Kasi daw ang minority hindi binantayan. Ako sinabi ko na nga na kahit hindi ako bumoto para doon ay magsorry nalang ang Senate tapos ayusin at baguhin.

Saan ka nakakita na desisyon ng majority, pero ang may kasalanan ay ang minority? It's part of leadership to admit your mistakes and correct them. Pero yung matuturuan at kung anu-anong sasabihin at kung sinu-sino pa ang ituturo ay di tama.

Question: Okay lang ba na mag-delay ka as a strategy? Pwede naman yun. Pero yung sasabihin mo na hindi mo ginagawa ay medyo nasuya na ko sa mga ganoong argument sa Senate floor. Kaya nilagay ko lang on the record.

Kasi kapag sinabi mo sinabi sa media at hindi sa floor, baka sabihin nila ay inuupakan mo sila ng patalikod. So I stood up and said that if we're going to pass one of these important bills, let's be honest with each other.

Reporter: Do you think minadali or prinioritize yung Cybercrime Law?

ASC: You know, the mere fact that a lot of things appeared in the law that are against freedom of expression and will create a cyber martial law, means that this was rushed.

The question now is: what does rushed mean? Everyone will say that there is a process. Simple lang naman yan. Kapag ang produkto ay hindi tama ang pagkaluto, either undercooked yan or overcooked.

Wag mong sabihing overcooked dahil ang ibig sabihin nito ay napagusapan paulit ulit at walang nangyari. Ang nangyari dito noong na-insert yung mga amendments, hindi napagusapan ng marami. Pati yung mga nagbabantay sa media at sa academe ay hindi nakapag-react kasi wala sa original bill yung ibang naipasok na amendments.

(Proposed Reform: Real time Senate updates via Social Media) That's why I'm saying one of the reforms we should do in the Senate is to have real-time tweeting of what's happening. This is because you get an advanced copy of the bill but what happens in the committees, in the BiCam and on the floor during the deliberations cannot be understood completely by only viewing the live streaming. The people would not be able to react.

But if you tweet what's happening real time, people will get the chance to react real-time and interact with the production of the legislation. Yung iba ayaw yun kasi sa tingin nila exclusive ang legislation para sa senador at congressman.

It's a tool of people empowerment and it's not about senators or congressmen having the exclusive right to legislate.

Reporter: Meron ba kayong mga sariling amendment so Cybercrime Law?

Three bills that are on my desk now are about tweaking it and one or two resolutions on the same topic. I was going to file it today and hopefully tomorrow at the latest. It is actually ready but my sister said she's going to file an amendment so I'm reading her version because if it's just similar, I'll just opt to co-author.

I have three versions because I want us to take advantage of the situation. When there's crisis I always ask myself not only what is the 'bad' that happened but also what is the 'good' that can happen. I believe that we should also focus on repealing libel as a criminal offense in our country.

(Amend cybercrime & decriminalize libel) Why stop at amending the Cybercrime Law? The real culprit here is why is it that up until now the 1930s idea that you can be jailed due to libel is still in effect. Ang tama na ngayon sa buong mundo ay may civil case ka para sa defamation kung na-slander mo or na-libel mo ang isang tao.

Ibig sabihin civil na yung kaso at walang threat na yung makinarya ng gobyerno ang gagamitin laban doon sa nag-libel.

Reporter: Sir, for the record, bakit po ba nakalusot yung mga controversial provisions sa Cybercrime Law?

('Mea Culpa') That's why I said what all the senators should do is for those who think that it is right to just defend their stand and for those of us who disagree to resort to mea culpa or say that there was something wrong.

What's happening now is that all the legislations are being processed at the same time. Kapag may tumayo para mag-amendment hindi mo naman makita lahat ng anggulo agad. Aside from that, with the amount of bills being deliberated, it really can happen.

It happens all around the world with parliaments. The point is, how do we correct it? Also, how do you prevent it from happening again? The real-time tweeting is one of the solutions. You can tweet anytime. Pwede kang magtweet bago at pagkatapos maipasa yung bill. What I meant is that while we are processing it, the people can comment either directly to the Senate or the senators themselves.

Reporter: Ano yung mga points for amendment doon sa bill to decriminalize libel?

First, we will be taking out the defining of libel as criminal in nature and put civil liability instead. Second, we will repeal the Cyber-libel provisions in the Cybercrime Law. Third is to amend the "Takedown Clause" also in the Cybercrime Law. Meaning we still have to uphold the law on prior restraint.

News Latest News Feed