Fine for Libel Cases Preferred by Supreme Court
The Philippine Supreme Court has expressed its preference for the imposition of a fine, instead of imprisonment, as punishment for the crime of libel. Under the law, the punishment for persons convicted of libel shall be imprisonment, fine, or both, at the discretion of the courts.
In Administrative Circular 08-2008, issued on 25 January 2008, the Supreme Court directed the courts and judges to take note of the foregoing rule of preference in meting out the proper sentence in libel cases.
However, the Supreme Court added that imprisonment may be imposed if “forbearing to impose imprisonment would depreciate the seriousness of the offense, work violence on the social order, or otherwise be contrary to the imperatives of justice”.
A copy of the administrative circular may be found here: sc-admincirc-on-libel.pdf