Media watchdog Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) on Thursday joined the opposition to the online libel provision of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, saying it threatens a person's right to free expression and press freedom.

"While crimes committed over the Internet such as child pornography need legal sanctions, the Cybercrime Act throws such a wide net it penalizes even legitimate expressions of opinion online," the CMFR said in a statement.

According to the CMFR, the "original" libel law in the Revised Penal Code has been "problematic for free expression and press freedom since 1932," and has been used to "silence" journalists.

"The libel law has also been declared excessive by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which in 2011 asked the Philippine government to review the law towards eliminating the penalty of imprisonment," it noted.

However, the group said the government still used the libel provisions of the Revised Penal Code as part of sanctions against online libel, and raised the penalties.

"The Act adopts the 82-year old Revised Penal Code (RPC) provisions on libel, but raises the penalties by one degree, from a minimum of six months imprisonment in the RPC per count of libel to a minimum of six years," the CMFR said.

"Libel as provided for in the RPC thus remains today as problematic as it has been for over 80 years to press freedom and free expression, and in addition has become an even bigger constraint on free expression when committed online," it added.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the online libel provision in the controversial Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 is constitutional, although it struck down others, including one that empowers the Department of Justice (DOJ) to restrict or block access to data violating the law.

However, the high court clarified that only original authors of libelous material are covered by the cybercrime law, and not those who merely received or reacted to it.

President Benigno Aquino III signed the law in 2012 to stamp out cybercrimes such as fraud, identity theft, spamming and child pornography.

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CMFR: Online libel further threatens free expression, press freedom