As outrage against the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 continues to snowball and create unprecedented unity and defiance among netizens, the Aquino administration has not backed down in its resolve to implement a clearly draconian measure designed to curtail our most basic civil liberties—the right to freedom of expression, of speech, and of the press.

As alternative media practitioners, filmmakers, bloggers, and artists who maximize the new media to bring to the public information, opinion and analysis, as well as works of art that serve to illuminate social conditions and present ideas for social change, we believe that the government’s repression of the medium is the message. With the Cybercrime Act, the government wants to ensure that no avenue for expression exists that is free from control by the rich and powerful elite.

The existing law on libel has long been used by powerful public figures mostly to harass and prosecute journalists for doing their job. Instead of decriminalizing libel as urged by international human rights and media institutions, the government has even increased penalties. Worse, it now considers each and every citizen who uses Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as potential criminals.

With the rise of new media, ordinary citizens have been given the extraordinary power to reach large audiences, a power that has previously been the monopoly of the government and corporate media. The new media has been the recourse of citizens who see, report, and interpret social realities that traditional institutions ignore, hide or obliterate. Citizens have long been marginalized from discourse on national issues through the agenda-setting powers of the government and corporate media. Through the new media, citizens have the opportunity to counter this marginalization—to give voice to the poor and oppressed, to gain an audience without the need for huge capitalization, to criticize freely and creatively.

We believe that the Cybercrime Law is primarily a tool that exploits the rise of the new media and the use of ICT to suppress dissent and spy on citizens. The way the law is being defended by those who crafted it, and especially by the President who signed it, reveals that they enjoy, and will use to their own interest, the immense powers that the Cybercrime Law has given the government, such as the ability to take down websites, undertake surveillance, and seize electronic data.

Abuses that will surely arise from such powers will undermine any gains that this law claims to have against “cybercrimes.” For instance, online child pornography and sex trafficking should be addressed by the strict implementation and strengthening of existing laws to reflect the developments in ICT. It is still debatable if hacking and cracking, spamming, online piracy, and cyberbullying are indeed crimes or if they can be covered under a single piece of legislation. What is clear is that these “cybercrimes” will not be addressed by a law makes expressing oneself online punishable by a jail term, or one that assumes that authorities can dip their hands into private electronic communication. In other words, a law that throws us back to the dark ages won’t protect our women and children, nor our personal identities and safety. On the contrary, it makes every citizen using ICT vulnerable to abuse by the biggest band of criminals: a government that is corrupt, loathes criticism (as can be judged by President Aquino’s reaction to the online phenomenon ‘Noynoying’), and uses all of its resources to crush dissent.

Even the US government—the footsteps of which the government only follows—did not confer such broad powers unto itself when it attempted, but failed, to pass its Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act. However, the Cybercrime Law probably pleases the US government, as it strengthens their existing network of surveillance in the country, and boosts the counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan. The said law also pleases local and foreign big businesses that operate in utter secrecy in this country, further shielding them from public accountability and oversight while penalizing those who use ICT to expose wrongdoing and abuses in the private and public sectors.

For e-martial law only reflects the de facto martial law already in place. Under Oplan Bayanihan, more than 100 citizens have been killed for their advocacies, forever silenced by bullets. More than 350 are imprisoned for their political beliefs. The Cybercrime Law makes it even easier to slap dissidents with trumped-up charges and send them to jail. After all, it now takes so little to be considered a cybercriminal.

Repression and lack of freedom is a daily reality for millions of Filipinos in the militarized countryside, violently demolished urban poor communities, and highly controlled workplaces and schools. Now it has become a daily reality as well for netizens who seek comfort in the freedom, however limited, of the new media.

As poverty, exploitation, and repression worsen, the duty to speak up and express ourselves through new media is more necessary than ever. As we begin to feel the grip of Aquino’s iron fist rule, it becomes more urgent to struggle to break free through actions both online and offline. E-martial law has been declared, and as those who fought the Marcos dictatorship taught us, the only way to end it is to start defying it.

Junk the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012!
Don’t criminalize criticism!
Defend our freedom of expression, speech and the press!
Resist tyranny!

UPDATE: The Supreme Court on Tuesday morning, October 9, unanimously issued 120-day a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the implementation of RA 10175. This is a temporary victory for all who advocate freedom of expression, speech and the press. Still, we must be vigilant until the law is junked altogether, as President Aquino has still not reneged on his defense of RA 10175 and its repressive provisions.

Signatories as of 10/09/2012

Media & Audio-Visual Organizations:

Pinoy Weekly Online/ PinoyMedia Center
Bulatlat.com
Davao Today
Northern Dispatch Weekly
Burgos Media Center
Mayday Multimedia
Tudla Productions
Kodao Productions
Southern Tagalog Exposure
UPLB Zoomout

Artists & Filmmakers:

Ricky Lee
JL Burgos
King Catoy
Renan Ortiz
Katsch SJ Catoy
EJ Mijares
Tom Estrera III
Adjani Arumpac
Kiri Dalena
RJ Mabilin
Sigrid Andrea Bernardo
Datu’s Tribe (band)
Bobby Balingit
Dino Concepcion
Bonifacio P. Ilagan
Rogelio Ordoñez
Marie Boti
Ji-An Manalo, Artists for Change
Rommel Mendez, Panday Pira Professionals
Camille P. Sueno
Carlos Piocos
Patrick Bilog
R. Jordan P. Santos
Sari Lluch Dalena
Keith Sicat

Journalists & Media Workers:

Melanie Pinlac, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility
Rupert Mangilit, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines
Nonoy Espina, NUJP Director/interaksyon.com
Jeffrey Tupas, TV5/interaksyon.com
Karlos Manlupig, Rappler.com/ Philippine Daily Inquirer
Alaysa Escandor, GMA-7
Edmalynne Remillano, GMA-7
Richard Gappi, Rizal News Online
Alex D. Lopez, Davao Today
Marilou Aguirre Tuburan
Rizle Saligumba
Cong Corrales, Freelance
Ritchie Salgado, Freelance
Pigeon Lobien, Cordillera Today
Silvestre Quintos, Baguio Chronicle
Thom Picaña, GMA Baguio
Antonio Pekas, ZigZag Weekly
Gregory Taguiba, Mountain Province Exponent
Samuel Bautista, Sunstar Baguio
Alfred Dizon, Northern Philippine Times
Kathleen T. Okubo, Northern Dispatch Weekly
Fred Villareal, The Voice
Maureen A. Hermitanio, Philippine Online Chronicles
Jonathan B. Canchela, The Philippine Reporter (Toronto)

Photojournalists:

Jes Aznar
Raymond Panaligan
Angelica Carballo
Buck Pago
Boy Esclanda
Alex Felipe
Medel Hernani
Oliver Garcia
Candice Reyes
Leonard Reyes

Academe:

Dean Rolando B. Tolentino, UP College of Mass Communication
Prof. Danilo Arao, UP Asst. Vice-President for Public Affairs
Former UP CMC Dean Luis V. Teodoro
Former UP Fine Arts Dean Leonilo Doloricon
Prof. Paul Grant, University of San Carlos Cebu
Prof. Edwin Padrilanan, Adamson University

Artists Organizations:

Pixel Offensive
Artists Arrest
Baluarte Artists Collective
Hiringgilya Collective
Habi Arts Collective
Gerilya

Bloggers:

Tonyo Cruz (TonyoCruz.com)
Vencer Crisostomo (twitter.com/Venzie)
Kenneth Keng (FilipinoFreethinkers.org)
Teo Marasigan (KapirasongKritika.wordpress.com)

Student Publications:

College Editors Guild of the Philippines

CEGP chapters in Central Luzon, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Cagayan, Baguio, Cordillera, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Bicol, Southern Tagalog, Palawan, Romblon, Samar, Tacloban, Bacolod, Cebu, Panay, Cagayan de Oro, Lanao, Bukidnon, Greater Cotabato, Davao & Socksargen

Solidaridad (UP publications alliance)
Philippine Collegian (UP Diliman)
Kalasag (UP Diliman)
The New Frontier (National College of Business and Arts)
Trinity Observer (Trinity University of Asia)
aSTIg (STI Araneta)
The Torch (Philippine Normal University)
Manila Collegian (UP Manila)
The Scholastican (St. Scholastica’s College)
EARIST Technozette (EARIST Manila)
Alyansa ng Kabataang Mamamahayag (PUP publications alliance)
The Catalyst (PUP Manila)
Business Torch (PUP Manila)
The Communicator (PUP Manila)
Paradigm (PUP Manila)
The Warden (Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa)
The Philippine Artisan (TUP Taguig)
The Chronicler (PUP Taguig)
Atenews (Ateneo de Davao)
The Pillars (Ateneo de Naga)
UP Outcrop (University of the Philippines – Baguio)
Lorma Highlights (Lorma Colleges)
Technoscope (Pangasinan State University – Urdante)
The Pioneer (Palawan State University)
Tolentine Star (University of Negros Occidental – Recoletos)
The Angelite (Holy Angel University)