Blogger convicted of cyberlibel over remarks vs. Tito Sotto

The Pasay City Regional Trial Court has found blogger Edward Angelo "Cocoy" Dayao guilty of cyber libel over his 2017 post against former Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III. 

In a decision, the Pasay RTC Branch 111 found Dayao guilty of violating Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 and sentenced him to a minimum of two years and five months and a maximum of four years and five months in jail. 

"This court finds that the prosecution sufficiently established that the accused is the publisher of the subject article. That such a defamatory article was published is beyond dispute," it added. 

The court’s decision stemmed from the complaint filed by the former lawmaker after Dayao's "Silent No More PH" blog post called Sotto as well as Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, Manny Pacquiao, Gregorio Honasan, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Cynthia Villar, and Richard Gordon an unsavory label for not signing a Senate resolution condemning the killing of minors in the Duterte administration’s bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, which is now being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

"In this case, malice is thus presumed from the imputation branding the private complainant... As such, the element of malice is also indubitably presumed," the court said.

Dayao pleaded not guilty during the arraignment. 

In a statement, Sotto said Dayao's conviction should serve as a stern warning.

"I welcome the court decision. May this be a reminder to all of us that we should be more responsible for whatever we publish online," Sotto said.  — VBL, GMA Integrated News