03/02/2020 G.R. No. 203335 RAGRAGIO, MARIA FATIMA A. VILLENA, MEDARDO M. MANRIQUE, JR., LAUREN DADO, MARCO VITTORIA TOBIAS SUMAYAO, IRENE CHIA, ERASTUS NOEL T. DELIZO, CRISTINA SARAH E. OSORIO, ROMEO FACTOLERIN, NAOMI L. TUPAS, KENNETH KENG, ANA ALEXANDRA C. CASTRO, Petitioners, vs. THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, THE SECRETARY OF JUSTICE, THE SECRETARY OF INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, THE SECRETARY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OFFICE, THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, THE CHIEF, PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE, THE HEAD OF THE DOJ OFFICE OF CYBERCRIME, and THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CYBERCRIME INVESTIGATION AND COORDINATING CENTER, Respondents. DECISION ABAD, J.: These consolidated petitions seek to declare several provisions of Republic Act (R.A.) 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, unconstitutional and void. The Facts and the Case The cybercrime law aims to regulate access to and use of the cyberspace. Using his laptop or computer, a person can connect to the internet, a system that links him to other computers and enable him, among other things, to: 1. Access virtual libraries and encyclopedias for all kinds of information that he needs for research, study, amusement, upliftment, or pure curiosity; 2. Post billboard-like notices or messages, including pictures and videos, for the general public or for special audiences like associates, classmates, or friends and read postings from them; 3. Advertise and promote goods or services and make purchases and payments; 4. Inquire and do business with institutional entities like government agencies, banks, stock exchanges, trade houses, credit card companies, public utilities, hospitals, and schools; and 5. Communicate in writing or by voice with any person through his e-mail address or telephone. This is cyberspace, a system that accommodates millions and billions of simultaneous and ongoing individual accesses to and uses of the internet. The cyberspace is a boon to the need of the current generation for greater information and facility of communication. But all is not well with the system since it could not filter out a number of persons of ill will who would want to use cyberspace technology for mischiefs and crimes. One of them can, for instance, avail himself of the system to unjustly ruin the reputation of another or bully the latter by posting defamatory statements against him that people can read. And because linking with the internet opens up a user to communications from others, the ill-motivated can use the cyberspace for committing theft by hacking into or surreptitiously accessing his bank account or credit card or defrauding him through false representations. The wicked can use the cyberspace, too, for illicit trafficking in sex or for exposing to pornography guileless children who have access to the internet. For this reason, the government has a legitimate right to regulate the use of cyberspace and contain and punish wrongdoings. Notably, there are also those who would want, like vandals, to wreak or cause havoc to the computer systems and networks of indispensable or highly useful institutions as well as to the laptop or computer programs and memories of innocent individuals. They accomplish this by sending electronic viruses or virtual dynamites that destroy those computer systems, networks, programs, and memories. The government certainly has the duty and the right to prevent these tomfooleries from happening and punish their perpetrators, hence the Cybercrime Prevention Act. But petitioners claim that the means adopted by the cybercrime law for regulating undesirable cyberspace activities violate certain of their constitutional rights. The government of course asserts that the law merely seeks to reasonably put order into cyberspace activities, punish wrongdoings, and prevent hurtful attacks on the system. Pending hearing and adjudication of the issues presented in these cases, on February 5, 2013 the Court extended the original 120-day temporary restraining order (TRO) that it earlier issued on October 9, 2012, enjoining respondent government agencies from implementing the cybercrime law until further orders. The Issues Presented Petitioners challenge the constitutionality of the following provisions of the cybercrime law that regard certain acts as crimes and impose penalties for their commission as well as provisions that would enable the government to track down and penalize violators. These provisions are: a. Section 4(a)(1) on Illegal Access; b. Section 4(a)(3) on Data Interference; c. Section 4(a)(6) on Cyber-squatting; d. Section 4(b)(3) on Identity Theft; e. Section 4(c)(1) on Cybersex; f. Section 4(c)(2) on Child Pornography; g. Section 4(c)(3) on Unsolicited Commercial Communications; h. Section 4(c)(4) on Libel; i. Section 5 on Aiding or Abetting and Attempt in the Commission of Cybercrimes; j. Section 6 on the Penalty of One Degree Higher; k. Section 7 on the Prosecution under both the Revised Penal Code (RPC) and R.A. 10175; l. Section 8 on Penalties; m. Section 12 on Real-Time Collection of Traffic Data; n. Section 13 on Preservation of Computer Data; o. Section 14 on Disclosure of Computer Data; p. Section 15 on Search, Seizure and Examination of Computer Data; q. Section 17 on Destruction of Computer Data; https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2014/feb2014/gr_203335_2014.html 3/19