Sequences for ‘Cybercrime’ arguments to be finalized

AFTER almost two months since the Supreme Court (SC) issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) for its implementation, the controversial Cybercrime Law will be discussed anew today, Tuesday, when the SC sets to line up the arguments raised by various groups against it.

"The final list and sequence of issues to be argued, the counsels to argue the same, the time allotted for the said counsels to present their arguments, and additional dates for oral arguments, if any, will be resolved by the Court en banc in its first session of the year on January 8, 2012, and embodied in an advisory to be issued to all the parties," a statement from the official website of the SC read.

The SC issued a TRO, effective for 120 days, against the implementation/enforcement of the Republic Act No. 10175, more commonly known as the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, after various groups from the media and civil society; and several individuals, including some members of Congress, had petitioned the Court to strike down some or all of the provisions of the law on October 9.

The Solicitor General, as counsel for the government, has already submitted its Comment to the various petitions arguing in favor of the constitutionality of a majority of the provisions of the law.

The SC said all the 15 petitions challenging the constitutionality of the law will be coming up for oral arguments before the SC in the afternoon of January 15, 2013.

"It is the first oral arguments of the Court to be presided over by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno since her appointment as such on August 24, 2012," the SC said.

"To help prepare the counsels for the parties in relation to the multiple issues raised, SC Associate Justice Roberto A. Abad took the initiative of meeting with the said counsels this afternoon to discuss possible ground rules," it said.

The SC added that one of the purposes of the meeting was to determine "which of the many issues presented by the various petitions should be heard on oral arguments and which of the remaining issues could be argued in written Memoranda to be submitted to the Court after the oral arguments."