Thus, for purposes of determining the correct penalty for online libel, Section 6 instructs that the commission of the crime through information and communication technologies shall be one degree higher than that provided for the crime of Libel punished under the RPC. These articles on libel provide:

ART. 353. Definition of libel. — A libel is public and malicious imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstance tending to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.

ART. 355. Libel means by writings or similar means. — A libel committed by means of writing, printing, lithography, engraving, radio, phonograph, painting, theatrical exhibition, cinematographic exhibition, or any similar means, shall be punished by prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods or a fine ranging from P40,000 to P1,200,000, or both, in addition to the civil action which may be brought by the offended party. (As amended by Section 91 of RA 1.0951)

 Relevantly, the RPC recognizes that the penalty of fine may be imposed as a single or alternative penalty, which means it can be imposed instead of imprisonment, as shown by the fact that the RPC provides for the alternative penalty of fine in many of its provisions. Specifically on libel, the penalty of fine may also be imposed in the alternative, which is evident in the RPC's plain use of the disjunctive word "or" between the term of imprisonment and fine, such word signaling disassociation or independence between the two words. Petitioner appears to conclude that Section 6 mandates imprisonment as a penalty for Online Libel because it provides that the penalty shall be "one degree higher than that provided in the [RPC]." Thus, the petitioner erroneously assumes that only imprisonment may be increased or decreased by degrees under the RPC. Verily, the petitioner's argument is belied by Article 75 of the RPC, which provides:

 Art. 75. Increasing or reducing the penalty of fare by one or more degrees. — Whenever it may be necessary to increase or reduce the penalty of fine by one or more degrees, it shall be increased or reduced, respectively, for each degree, by one-fourth of the maximum amount prescribed by law, without, however, changing the minimum.

 The same rules shall be observed with regard to fines that do not consist of a fixed amount but are made proportional. 

 From this, the Court finds that there is no legal basis for the petitioner to argue that: (a) a penalty of fine may not be imposed in the case of Online Libel; and (b) Section 6 speaks only of imprisonment when it provided for a penalty one degree higher than that provided in the RPC. Clearly, Articles 26, 75, and 355 of the RPC provide that the penalty of fine may be imposed instead of imprisonment, and it may be increased or decreased by degrees."

The facts and quoted provision of the decision are from the case cited above.