QC court clears teacher who uploaded 'VIP' traffic video

A Quezon City court has junked the case against a school teacher who uploaded a video of a police officer saying Vice President Sara Duterte's convoy was causing a traffic jam along Commonwealth Avenue.

In a four-page decision, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 104 said the allegations against teacher Janus Munar do not constitute a crime.

It also said that while Executive Master Sergeant Verdo Pantollano, the complainant, already filed an amended complaint in May, the amended complaint was still defective.

The court cited that although Article 154, Paragraph 1 penalizes any person who by means of print or publish "as news" any false news that may endanger the public order, the mere publication is not enough to establish a crime since the publication must be characterized by the phrase "as news." 

"In this case, there is nothing in the [criminal] information which states that the accused published the video 'as news'," the court pointed out.

The court also noted that the amended information used the phrase "further propagate," which it said "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."  

Article 154, paragraph 1, the court said, "contemplates a situation where the publication itself is the source of the endangerment to public order, not just a fuel to the fire." 

Despite the opportunity to amend given to the prosecution, the court said "the amended information still suffers from the same infirmities as the original information." 

"Wherefore, premises considered, the Motion for Reconsideration of the Order dated June 7. 2024 is hereby granted. Accordingly, the amended information dated May 9, 2024 is hereby quashed, and this case is dismissed," the court ruled.

The original complaint even accused Munar of violating Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act.

Lawyer Chel Diokno, Munar's counsel, said the court ruling should serve as a lesson to persons in authority not to weaponize the law against their fellow Filipinos.

"Isang tagumpay ito ng katarungan at katotohanan laban sa pag-abuso sa kapangyarihan. Walang pinagkaiba ang ginawa ni Munar sa ginagawa ng maraming netizen na nagpo-post ng mga video; ngunit dahil mataas na opisyal ang itinutukoy sa video, pinag-initan ng Quezon City Police District si Munar at kinasuhan ng paglabag ng Article 154 ng Revised Penal Code," Diokno said in a statement.

(This is a victory of truth and justice against abuse of power. Munar's action is no different from other people posting videos online, but because this one involved a high ranking official, the Quezon City Police District brought the heat on Munar and field charges against him for alleged violation of  Article 154 of Revised Penal Code.)

The decision was dated September 30 but released only on Tuesday, October 15.

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) has denied that Duterte's convoy caused the traffic jam on Commonwealth Avenue on October 5, 2023. —KBK, GMA Integrated News