The Supreme Court (SC) urged the bar and the bench to submit written discourse on the impact of contemporary developments in the exercise of the freedom of expression and the press.

This will be taken up in a symposium of the high bench through its education arm, the Philippine Judicial Academy (PhilJA), with the title "Contemporary and Enduring Challenges to Freedom of Expression."

The symposium is eyed to be held on 10 to 11 December 2024 in Manila and was announced by the SC early because its Committee on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law started accepting abstracts on the topic of freedom of speech, expression, and the press, and its cognate rights.

The deadline for submission is on 15 June.

The SC said, "The symposium aims to enrich the discourse on the impact of contemporary developments in the exercise of these fundamental freedoms and encourage critical legal scholarship on the decisions and policies of the Court."

Members of the bench and bar, law practitioners in the private and public sectors, members of the academe, law students, and other interested individuals are invited to submit their work, and "all submissions will undergo blind deliberations."

Topics relevant to the freedom of expression are artificial intelligence, technology, and human rights; disinformation, "cheap speech," and similar contemporary challenges to democracy; the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012; press freedom; the right to publish and to information; the right to reputation and to be forgotten; the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 and fundamental freedoms; and any other relevant topics on freedom of expression and its cognate rights.

The other requirements and conditions set by the SC in the submission of abstracts:

"Authors are discouraged from doing simple surveys of jurisprudence here and/or abroad. While important to point to recent jurisprudence, the symposium aims to surface the challenges presented by new issues, contemporary philosophical and hermeneutical approaches as well as sociological impacts of past approaches to freedom of expression. Premium will be given to interdisciplinary approaches that can inform jurisprudence."

The SC encouraged incumbent as well as retired members of the judiciary to participate but shall not be given any advantage in the evaluation of their abstracts.

"Authors are invited to submit abstracts not exceeding 500 words on their original, unpublished papers for an initial screening. Each author may only submit a maximum of two abstracts. Co-written works are allowed, but only the authorized representative should access the registration form to submit the abstract. Should the study be selected, only one author can present the study in the symposium."

After the screening of the abstracts, selected authors will be required to submit their full papers, which should have a minimum of 10,000 words but not exceeding 20,000 words.

No extension shall be granted to any of the authors of shortlisted abstracts.

The SC said, "The papers will also undergo blind deliberations by a panel of experts, and only twelve papers will be selected to present during the symposium."

"Authors are discouraged from using generative AI or similar technologies in expressing their content. All participants should disclose their use of any form of AI, including for purposes of generating research ideas, research data, research references, checking grammar and style," it added.

The deadline for the submission of the abstracts was set on 15 June, the release of the results of accepted abstracts will be on 30 June, while the submission of the full papers will be on 31 July.