Court junks another ‘fake news’ case vs a Duterte critic

MANILA, Philippines – A Quezon City court has junked another “fake news” case filed against a critic of the Duterte family, in a ruling made public on Tuesday, October 15.

In a four-page order, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 104 Presiding Judge Catherine Manodon granted the motion for reconsideration filed by Janus Munar, who was accused of allegedly violating Article 154 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) or unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances. Munar was the teacher accused of posting the viral “VIP” traffic video, where Vice President Sara Duterte had been blamed for causing traffic.

By granting the teacher’s motion, the court cleared Munar of the charge filed against him by the Quezon City Police District (QCPD).

Munar was charged by the police after he was accused of uploading the viral video, which showed cops stopping traffic along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City allegedly for Duterte in October last year. The vice president denied her involvement in the incident, while the QCPD apologized for the mishap.

Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) chairperson Chel Diokno, in 2023, said his client did not receive a subpoena, nor a copy of the complaint when Munar was sued by the police. Diokno also wrote a letter to the QCPD explaining that Munar just shared the video, contrary to the police’s claim that the teacher was the one who uploaded it.

The FLAG lawyer added that Munaro was not “affiliated in any way with [the] person” who took the video.

Ruling

In the order, the court explained the contents of Section 4, Rule 117 of the Rules on Criminal Procedure. Under this rule, the prosecution is required to amend the information or case, if the accused filed a motion to quash based on the defect of a complaint or information, which can be cured by an amendment. Motion to quash is a legal remedy used to junk a case and can be availed of by an accused during the early parts of the criminal proceedings.

Ruling on Munar’s case, the court said the case still suffered from a defect despite the amendment by the prosecution, paving the way for the teacher’s motion to be granted.

RPC’s Article 154 lists down at least four modes how unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances is committed. However, the prosecution failed to point which of these modes covered Munar’s alleged crime, according to the ruling.

The court added that even if the case pertained to the law’s paragraph 1, the case still has a defect. The paragraph states: “Any person who by means of printing, lithography, or any other means of publication shall publish or cause to be published as news any false news which may endanger the public order, or cause damage to the interest or credit of the State.”

However, the court explained that the mere publication or causing of publication is not a crime in itself, but only if the publication or causing of the publication is characterized by the phrase “as news.” The order said there was no information in the case that categorized Munar’s alleged video “as news.”

In addition, the court also said that the prosecution’s use of the phrase — “further propagates the public disorder caused by the incident” — became “fatal” to the suit against Munar. The court explained that paragraph 1 of Article 154 contemplates a situation where the publication itself is the source of the endangerment, and not just a “fuel to the fire.”

“The amended information, by using the phrase ‘further propagate,’ suggests that it was the traffic incident which disturbed the public order and that the accused’s act of uploading the video simply aggravated the disturbance,” the ruling read.

Prior to Munar, former president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration used the same law to summon “more than a dozen people” over social media posts that criticized the then-government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier, Diokno said Article 154 has rarely beenb used in cases. Retired senior associate justice Antonio Carpio also said no case anchored on this law has reached the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Munar is the latest accused who won against a case filed by the QCPD against ordinary citizens.

In 2023, the QCPD filed complaints against Max Santiago, an artist who made an effigy that was set on fire during a State of the Nation Address protest rally in 2023. The police claimed the artist violated environmental laws. In the same year, the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the complaints against Santiago.

Prior to Santiago’s case, the QCPD also sued residents of Barangay San Roque in Quezon City for holding a rally demanding for food during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. A Quezon City court cleared the residents and ruled that pleading for food at the height of pandemic lockdown was “within their rights.”

Most recently, the QCPD also filed complaints against transport leader Mar Valbuena and his fellow transport leaders for leading a transport strike in Quezon City in April. The complaints are still pending. – Rappler.com