Stiffer penalties await publishers of fake news

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President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law amendments in the Revised Penal Code, which includes imposing stiffer penalties on publishing false news.

Duterte signed Republic Act 10951 or “An Act Adjusting the Amount or the Value of Property and Damage on which a Penalty is Based, and Fines Imposed Under the Revised Penal Code” on August 29.

Article 154 of the new law imposes stiffer penalty on “unlawful use of means of publication and unlwaful utterances.”

Under the law, penalty of arresto mayor and a fine ranging from P40,000 to P200,000 shall be imposed on any person publishing false news, “which may endanger the public order, or cause damage to the interest or credit of the state.”

Arresto mayor has a jail term from 1 month and 1 day to six months.

The law also applies to “any person who by the same means, or word, utterances or speeches shall encourage disobedience to the law or to the constituted authorities or praise, justify, or extol any act punished by law.”

The fine will also apply to “any person who shall maliciously publish or cause to be published any official resolution or document without proper authority or before they have been published officially.”

The law also penalizes “any person who shall print, publish, or distribute or cause to be printed, published, or distributed books, pamphlets, periodicals, or leaflets which do not bear the real printer’s name, or which are classified as anonymous.”