Sotto sues Silent No More PH 'owner' for cyberlibel

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Majority Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto III on Tuesday filed a cyberlibel case against the person he said is behind the Silent No More PH blog and Facebook page.

In his complaint, Sotto accused Edward Angelo "Cocoy" Dayao of violating Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to Section 4 (c) of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

Under the revised penal code, libel is defined as “a public and malicious imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status or circumstance tending to cause dishonor, discredit or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.”

As defined in the revised penal code, cyberlibel is the same offense committed through a computer system or any other similar means.

The senator filed the complaint against Dayao before the Pasay City Prosecutor's Office, according to a report from News5.

RELATED: Irked senators hit 'fake news' on not signing EJK resolution

A few months ago, Sotto called those behind the Silent No More PH "stupid and silly" and warned that he would file a cyber libel case against them.

The senator made the comment after the blog called senators from the majority bloc “Malacañang dogs” for not signing a resolution calling on the government to stop killing minors. The draftt resolution, however, reportedly did not reach the offices of the senators.

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The blog urged Filipinos to show outrage against Sotto, Senate President Koko Pimentel and Sens. Richard Gordon, Cynthia Villar, Migz Zubiri, Manny Pacquiao and Gringo Honasan for not signing the resolution.

“These are the senators who will block any action that would investigate the sins of the government. These are the senators whose silence lead(s) to continuous murder of poor and innocent children,” the blog read.

The Senate mass media panel opened an inquiry into the proliferation of fake news following the outrage of the seven senators following their alleged exclusion of signing the resolution calling a stop to drug-related killings.

RELATED: After drawing flak, 7 senators also file resolution on EJKs

Sotto is not the first of his colleagues to file a libel complaint over blog entries.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on November 22 filed a similar complaint against Rey Joseph Nieto, the blogger behind "Thinking Pinoy" for a post alleging US President Donald Trump had referred to him as  a "narco" or drug lord.

In September, Trillanes also filed a complaint against Mocha Uson, a social media blogger and an assistant secretary in the Presidential Communications Operations Office, over a post alleging the existence of his secret offshore bank accounts. Trillanes went to Singapore to establish that at least two of the supposed accounts do not exist.