Cyber Martial Law

FOUR decades has passed since then President Ferdinand Marcos declared the Philippines under Martial Law. Throughout the regime, many lost their lives fighting for freedom while others who survived underwent torture and immense human rights violations.

Now, 40 years after Martial Law was declared, in a time when we have yet to fully experience a fully-functioning democracy, another hurdle is thrown at us and our freedom of speech.

The Internet has become an important tool and a strong force in activism. Many campaigns have gained ground and strong support from the public through online presence. The Internet was a place where critical minds say what need to be said about the government and its officials without the fear of getting into prison. Was. It is now a thing of the past.

With the passage of the Cybercrime Law, allowing criminal penalties for online libel, freedom of expression is again curtailed. The medium that used to help the public become vigilant is now guarded by the government. Now, anyone who says anything that can offend someone can be thrown to jail.

From Martial Law, we’ve learned the importance of freedom of expression. The price we had to pay to regain it were thousands of lives.

Now, in what feels like a Cyber Martial Law we need to be all the more vigilant, because we want real democracy, a fully-functioning democratic country and we say “Never Again to Martial Law,” cyber or not. (Dakila-Philippine Collective for Modern Heroism)