Hypoc-Risa

Hypoc-Risa | Daily Tribune

Sometime in December 2022, a senator very proudly filed a bill that, its author touted, would greatly enhance not only the guarantees of free expression in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution but also protect the role of the Fourth Estate as a check against official excesses.

“Our libel laws have been weaponized to stifle very basic fundamental rights. These laws have been used to constantly attack many of our freedoms, but particularly the freedom of the press. We need to decriminalize libel if we are to truly defend press freedom,” the solon’s press release intoned with written bombast.

It then added: “These journalists have wasted years of their lives facing charges for basically doing their jobs. Gamit na gamit na ang cyberlibel para patahimikin ang ating mga mamamahayag. Kung hindi natin maiwasto ito, patuloy na gagamitin ang libel para kitilin ang ating kalayaan.”

The bill (SB 1593), in its explanatory note, raged against libel and cyberlibel legislations resulting in “the avalanche of cyberlibel cases (which) has only resulted in the clogging of our court dockets” since “libel laws have been used and abused by private parties to advance their various interests, and by public personalities to shield themselves from scrutiny, even on matters of public concern.”

The lawmaker in question was Risa Hontiveros. And while hardly a fan, the civil libertarian in me agreed with her (a rare occurrence). After all, as my father once said, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Her bill thus proposed to repeal both the libel laws found in the Revised Penal Code and Republic Act 10175, which prescribed higher penalties for libel made through the use of electronic media.

Fast forward to 2025. In the midst of rising accusations of witness tampering, which has happened at least thrice since 2017, Hontiveros seemed to have swallowed her words.

Forgotten were concerns about “weaponization,” about prosecutions stifling dissent and preventing the press from discussing matters of public concern, and the congestion of the courts. Poor li’l ole Risa was hurt, and lashed out wildly against her supposed “tormentors,” the same members of the media that she said she wanted to protect in 2022. Pellucidly, when it came to her own interests, the entire Philippine press be damned!

And so the self-proclaimed Patron Saint of Journalists filed libel and cyberlibel cases against this writer and a slew of other journalists who broadcast commentaries against her when a certain “alias Rene” RENEged (just couldn’t resist the pun) on his promise to testify against Pastor Quiboloy and claimed that he (Rene) was paid for his perjured testimony.

Never mind that “Rene” went live on media to expose Hontiveros’ scheme. Never mind that, a few years back, another witness went public with oral and sworn written testimony saying the same thing about Risa. Never mind that a case for kidnapping underaged witnesses was indeed filed against her by former Representative Jing Paras in 2017. Just like the Pope, Risa can do no wrong. Risa non potest iniuriam facere. Those who disagree with her should be considered as having fallen away from grace.

She probably thought that, by filing those cases, Risa would expose us as liars. But all that she achieved — by using against the media the same penal laws she sought to repeal — was to expose her own hypocrisy.