The Supreme Court (SC) urged its bench and the bar 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 has 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.

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.”