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Friday, March 29, 2024

34 Duterte supporters face raps for bullying

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FOURTEEN supporters of presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte were charged with grave threats before the Department of Justice for harassing and threatening a Duterte critic online.

Human rights advocate Renee Julienne Karunungan filed the criminal complaint against 14 pro-Duterte Facebook users for grave threats under the Revised Penal Code in relation to Section 6 of Republic Act No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

Karunungan also went to the Commission on Elections to file separate cases of violation of election laws against 20 other Facebook users.

Karunungan narrated that the threats against her arose from a Facebook meme she created describing Duterte as “a lazy choice” after the second presidential debate last month that went viral.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte

Her original post went viral, earning over 13,000 reactions and more than 4,000 shares, before it was taken down by Facebook over complaints from supporters of the presidential frontrunner.

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“Obviously, the supporters were offended by it. A lot of them reported it and it was taken down. I was also blocked by Facebook for four days,” Karunungan said, in a press conference prior to the filing of the complaint with the DoJ.

According to her, when she was allowed by Facebook administration to return to the social networking site, Karunungan said she received more threats of rape and death via comments and messages on her Facebook account.

She posted an album compiling the threats and harassment by Duterte supporters, but was once again banned by Facebook for three days due to complaints from them.

Among the messages the complainant received were: “I have friends who want to kill you. You have the money anyway, save that for your hospital expenses.”

“I hope you get raped, or get mugged. That’s what you want, right? You don’t want change because you are against Duterte. I hope one of these days you get raped so you’ll come to your senses.” 

Her lawyer Jose Jesus Disini Jr. stressed that the Facebook users behind such messages and comments can and should be held criminally liable.

“Under the Revised Penal Code, it is considered a grave threat when you threate somebody with physical harm. In this case, there’s [also a] threat of rape, threat of physical injury. And because it’s done online, it’s also a cybercrime under Section 6 of the law,” Disini said.

The lawyer explained that the charges under RPC and RA 10175 should be prosecuted independently, adding that they were able to verify the identities and addresses of most of the respondents.

The complaints filed by Karunungan were referred by the DOJ to the National Bureau of Investigation for assessment. 

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