Sotto hails online libel ruling, vows not to use it vs critics

Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines –  Although he welcomed  the Supreme  Court’s decision declaring online libel constitutional, Senator  Vicente “Tito” Sotto  III said he would not use the law  to go after his critics in cyberspace.

“I have not seen the decision. Nevertheless, libel is libel whether in cyberspace or not,” Sotto said in a text message when sought to react to the SC ruling.

Asked if he was happy about the decision,  the senator said: “Yes although I’m  baffled at why it has to take the Supreme Court to tell people  that libel is libel. We should not say bad things about other people.”

Asked  again  if he would use the law  against his critics in the Internet, Sotto said: “I do not need that law to sue them if I wanted to. I know that their  accusations  are silly anyway.”

“The good thing now is the people who are affected by malicious people in cyberspace will now have  a form to seek redress,”  he said.

Sotto  quickly pointed out though that “most  netizens are responsible. There are just a few malicious  bad eggs.”

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