Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

~ 494
HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by: REP. RAUL V. DEL MAR

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The attached Bill seeks to provide a specific venue of action libel
cases against a community journalist, community publication or community
broadcast station.

There is no question — and nobody disputes this that the right to
one's reputation and honor is as much a constitutional rights as the passion
of life, liberty and property. Indeed, “it is one of those rights necessary to
human society that underlie and whole scheme of civilization. Law and
jurisprudence recognize and protect the value of such reputation and
subject one who attacks it, by slanderous words of libelous publication, to
the full criminal and civil sanctions.

However, there is likewise the reality — this is difficult to question if
not undeniable — that libel, whether filed as a criminal or civil action, is
likewise used as a convenient legal tool to harass journalists, especially the
community newspaper and broadcast practitioners. This is so because,
under the present rules, the complainant or offended party, if he is a public
officer, can file the complaint in Manila if his office is in Manila or in the
office outside Manila if his office is located there. If he is a private person,
the venue is his place of residence at the time of the commission of the
offense. Thus, a newspaper or broadcast station in Aparri or Jolo, Cebu or
Davao can be made to answer a complaint filed in Metro Manila where the
complaint resides although the subject, the issue or the incident published —
in law the cause of action - did not arise in Metro Manila.


This situation is not changed by the fact that - under the same rule
on venue ~ the complainant or offended party has the option to file the
action in the Regional Trial Court of the province or city where the libelous
article is printed or first published because, in reality and in practice, the
offended party usually does not exercise that option since he chooses the
venue that is as far away from the principal office of business or work of the
defendant or accused as possible.

The prevailing legal rules on venue thus place these community
journalists and local broadcasters in a situation where they have to answer
complaints or charges filed, rightly or wrongly, in remote or distant places,
deliberately filed far away from their place of business or work. In this
context, the element oppression is there. The toll of inconvenience, financial
or otherwise, is often more onerous and burdensome than the penalty or
fine prescribed by the law. This may even lead to a miscarriage of justice in
cases where the accused or defendant fail to appear because of the distance
and travel constraints.

The criminal or civil action may eventually be thrown out by the
court but the damage has been done; it already punished the community
journalist and his publication by the excessive cost of litigation and
inconvenience outside the principal office of publication or business of the
said journalist or publication.

‘The community journalist and his organization, mostly financially
handicapped and already afflicted with all sorts of pressures and threats,
need immediate relief from the present rule venue of libel cases, whether
criminal or civil, which create an opportunity for oppression. In substance,
thereof, the proposed legislation seeks to provide the relief sought, to correct
this unfairness by closing this loophole that is often exploited or taken
advantage of by offended parties.

It may be stressed that this bill passed on third and final reading in
the House of Representatives during the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and
Seventeenth Congresses but was not approved by the Senate, for lack of
time upon congressional adjournment.

In view of the foregoing, approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

/

RAI Xun


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

nouse sit no. _494

Introduced by: REP. RAUL V. DEL MAR

AN ACT
PROVIDING FOR THE VENUE OF THE CRIMINAL AND CIVIL ACTION IN
LIBEL CASES AGAINST COMMUNITY OR LOCAL JOURNALIST,
PUBLICATION OR BROADCAST STATIONS

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. The criminal or civil action in cases of libel against a
community or local journalist, publication or broadcast station shall be filed
in the Regional Trial Court of the province or city where the principal office
or place of business of the said community or local journalist, publication or
broadcast station is located: Provided, That the civil action shall be filed in
the same court where the criminal action is filed.

The term ‘community or local journalist, publication or broadcast
station” refers to a journalist or news medium that operates within a limited
area of circulation or broadcast in a city, province or region, as defined

under existing laws.

SEC. 2. All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and regulations,
issuances or any part thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are
hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.


SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in any newspapers of general
circulation.

Approved,