Iloilo City — Opponents of the Cybercrime Prevention Act who held protests in Iloilo lauded the Supreme Court decision issuing a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the said law.
“It is an initial but big victory but we must remain vigilant,” said Reylan Vergara, secretary general of the human rights groups Panay Alliance-Karapatan.
Yesterday morning, Karapatan and the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan led around 30 protesters in a picket in front of the office of the Regional Trial Court branches in Jaro District in Iloilo City.
The protesters wore black shirts and had black mouth gags to symbolize the law’s perceived threats to freedom of expression.
The journalists also wore black and changed their Facebook profiles to black to signify their protests.
The hosts of radio station dyOK Aksyon Radyo Iloilo intentionally blocked out their names in the introduction of their radio programs as a form of protest. Their names were also blackened in their Facebook page.
Bloggers in Iloilo also joined the protest by changing their Facebook profiles to black.
“It’s not yet over. We must remain on guard,” said blogger Antoine Greg Flores. /INQUIRER