A bill has been introduced in the Philippine legislature to protect politically active citizens from harassment law suits from powerful interests. -DB
GMANews.TV
May 16, 2009
MANILA, Philippines — Militant party list representatives have filed a measure seeking to prohibit the filing of lawsuits against militants to protect their right to freedom of assembly, speech and of the press.
House Bill 5840 seeks to stop what the authors called a new breed of harassment suits dubbed Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP).
“SLAPP is a powerful mechanism for stifling the right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances,” Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, one of the authors, said on the House of Representatives website (www.congress.gov.ph).
Ocampo said the harassment suit usually comes from influential entities such as corporations, politicians, landlords or employers.
Such suits are lodged against peasants, community residents, the press, students and ordinary citizens to prevent them from exercising their right to participate in matters of public concern.
“SLAPP has since been defined more broadly to include suits arising from speech on any public issue,” Ocampo said.
He said SLAPP is designed and intended to intimidate and silence certain public constituencies by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their advocacies and concerns.
“The goal of the plaintiff or complainant is not to win the lawsuit. Their objective is accomplished if the respondent or accused succumbs to fear, intimidation or mounting legal costs or exhaustion and thereby abandons the public advocacy,” he said.
Ocampo said the poor are the usual victims of SLAPP, as they find it difficult to continue their work or pursue their livelihood, engage in demonstrations and assert their rights.
The bill seeks to prohibit the filing of SLAPP and provide the accused the right to recover damages, litigation costs, attorney’s fees and other relief by filing a “SLAPP-back” action against the complainant. –
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